Actress and model Catya Sassoon, daughter of hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, dead at 33

LOS ANGELES - Actress and model Catya Sassoon, the daughter of celebrity hairstylist Vidal Sassoon, died in her sleep after attending a New Year&#39;s party at a friend&#39;s house. She was 33. <br> <br> &#34;She complained of feeling woozy and they left the party and went home,&#34; her manager, Hilly Elkins, said Thursday. <br> <br> When her husband, Joe Myers, checked on her a few hours later Tuesday morning, he discovered she wasn&#39;t breathing, said Elkins. The coroner&#39;s office said autopsy results were pending. <br> <br> Elkins said she suffered from high blood pressure. <br> <br> Sassoon had lived a flamboyant lifestyle in her younger years, and later acknowledged severe drug and alcohol problems. <br> <br> &#34;There were times I felt I was going to lose her,&#34; her mother, Beverly Sassoon, once said. <br> <br> Catya Sassoon had dropped out of Beverly Hills High School at 14 to pursue a modeling career in New York. She signed with the Prestige Agency, which moved her into a group apartment with a dozen other models, she recalled in a People magazine interview. <br> <br> &#34;It was sheer hell living there with 12 girls fighting for one of the two available showers every morning at 6,&#34; she said. &#34;Everyone stole everyone&#39;s makeup.&#34; <br> <br> Sassoon later appeared on the covers of Seventeen, Bride and other magazines. In 1985, Rolling Stone declared, &#34;Catya Sassoon defines the word nubile.&#34; <br> <br> She made her movie debut that year, appearing opposite James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. in the film &#34;Tuff Turf.&#34; <br> <br> Other film credits included &#34;Bloodfist IV: Die Trying,&#34; &#34;Modern Girls,&#34; &#34;Angelfist&#34; and &#34;Dance With Death.&#34; <br> <br> She was the oldest daughter of Vidal and Beverly Sassoon. <br> <br> <br>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/1/203488