NEW YORK, March 18 (UPI) -- Fashion innovator Oleg Cassini, who brought the U.S. the Nehru jacket and pillbox hat, has died on Long Island, N.Y., at the age 92.

No cause of death was given Friday for the man credited with defining Jacqueline Kennedy's style, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Cassini was not only an innovative leader in the fashion industry, he was a major Hollywood player as well, married to actress Gene Tierney, engaged to Grace Kelly before she became princess of Monaco and a regular on TV talk shows as "The Tonight Show and "The Mike Douglas Show."

He was the first fashion designer to franchise and had as many as 50 licenses for items such as sunglasses, watches and children's clothes, The Times said. At one point, Cassini's estimated worldwide retail volume was estimated at $400 million.

After becoming the fourth ex-husband of cough syrup heiress Merry Fahrney, Cassini moved from New York to Los Angeles in 1940, where he worked for major studios designing costumes for Veronica Lake, Marilyn Monroe and Tierney, whom he married in 1941.

Tierney was exposed to rubella by a fan while pregnant with their daughter, Daria, who was born blind and severely retarded.

They divorced in 1947, then reconciled and had a second daughter, Christina, but divorced again in 1952 and remained friends until Tierney died in 1991.

The designer never married again but was linked to Kelly, Anita Ekberg, Linda Evans, Jill St. John and dozens of models.

In later years, Cassini became an animal activist and introduced micro-fiber fake furs in 1999.

He is survived by his daughters and grandchildren.

Nicole Richie gets caustic in Castaic

CASTAIC, Calif., March 18 (UPI) -- "The Simple Life" co-star Nicole Richie has drawn the ire of a Castaic, Calif., family for asking an 11-year-old boy a lewd question.

The youth was playing basketball in his driveway Wednesday when Richie, taping a "Simple Life 4" episode for E!, approached and asked if he thought she was a "MILF," the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

When the little boy said he did not understand, Richie reportedly replied: "It means a 'mother I'd like to (expletive).'"

The boy's father, who was close enough to witness the exchange, refused to sign a release for the clip to be included in the show and lodged a complaint with Bunim-Murray Productions.

The parents told the newspaper the off-color remark accelerated the need for a family "talk" they had hoped to have a little later than sooner.

"I'm 90 percent mad but a little part of me says, 'Stop being a prude,'" the mother said. "I guess I just don't want my son to grow up that fast."

1994 album pulled for copyright violations

NASHVILLE, March 18 (UPI) -- A federal judge's order halting all sales of a 1994 breakout rap album because of copyright violations could have a widespread effect on the hip-hop genre.

U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell Friday put an immediate stop to all sales of "Ready to Die" by the late Notorious B.I.G. after a Nashville jury ruled the title track illegally sampled "Singing in the Morning," by the Ohio Players, the Nashville Tennessean reported Saturday.

Bad Boy Entertainment, Universal Records and executive producer Sean "Diddy" Combs were ordered to pay $3.5 million in punitive damages and at least $733,000 in direct damages plus interest to Armen Boladian, owner of Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records.

To "vindicate the integrity of the copyright law," Campbell banned all store sales, Internet downloads and radio play of "Ready to Die," the newspaper said.

The ruling and harsh penalty are expected to make waves in the rap industry, which routinely takes beats or melodies from older hits in the practice known as sampling.

'Young & Restless' goes to SoapNet

LOS ANGELES, March 18 (UPI) -- The No. 1 CBS daytime drama, "The Young and the Restless," has become the latest to join the rebroadcast lineup of cable TV's SoapNet.

SoapNet currently reruns all the soaps from its sister network, ABC, along with NBC's "Days of Our Lives."

Under a multiyear deal with Sony Pictures Television, SoapNet will rebroadcast same-day episodes of "Y&R" at 7 p.m. weekdays starting April 24, Daily Variety reports. An entire week's worth of episodes will be shown Sundays from 7 p.m. to midnight.

To make room for the acquisition, "Days" will move to 11 p.m. Monday-Friday.

SoapNet, which reaches about 48 million homes, has rights to daytime's five top-rated soaps -- including the ABC serials "All My Children," "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital."