Lair in the hills would easily fit 2
This Catwoman is preparing to nest. Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry, who starred last year as Batman’s comic-book paramour, announced in May that she was ready to have a child. Now, she has purchased a nearly $6-million home in the Hollywood Hills from Frankie Muniz, star of Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle.”
The 37-year-old Berry, who is single, may follow in the footsteps of actress Angelina Jolie and adopt a child, or else have a baby through artificial insemination. Berry, twice divorced, said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that she had no plans to marry again.
The house, which she bought for its asking price, is Old World Tuscan in style. It was built in the 1920s but was extensively remodeled in 2003. The remodel, which took it down to the studs, resulted in high ceilings, archways, columns and bougainvillea-draped stucco walls.
The main house is about 4,500 square feet with four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms. There is a 1,400-square-foot guesthouse with one bedroom and two bathrooms. The yard has a spa, a pool with a stone “diving board” and two fire pits made of lava rock. The home has a 10-car motor court and five-car garage.
A focal point is the eat-in kitchen, which features terra cotta floor tiles from France. There are five fireplaces, some made of stone, others of brick; surround sound throughout the house; city views; and a media room. That room includes a plasma screen that is hidden to maintain the Old World look.
Muniz, 19, sold the house to scale back. Earlier this year, he bought a nearby home for $3.9 million. The three-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot house he purchased has a theater, a fire pit, a pool and a spa.
After buying that house, the actor became engaged while filming “Stay Alive” in New Orleans. His fiancee is a hairstylist.
Berry bought a Malibu home for $8 million in October, area Realtors said at the time. The four-bedroom home, on 60 feet of beach frontage, is considered a retreat.
Berry is the first African American woman to win a best actress Oscar. She won it for her role in “Monster’s Ball” (2001). A year later, she played Jinx in the James Bond film “Die Another Day,” starring Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007. Berry provided the voice of Cappy in the animated film “Robots,” released earlier this year
Max Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, handled the latest transaction.
Her preservation passion pays off
Diane Keaton has done it again. The Oscar-winning actress finished restoring her Colonial Revival-style home in time for a Los Angeles Conservancy benefit there this spring when she got an offer she couldn’t refuse: The actress, who played the wife of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in “The Godfather” (1972), sold the Bel-Air residence for close to $17.2 million.
The last time Keaton did something similar was in June 2000, when she sold her newly refurbished home in Beverly Hills to Madonna for $6.5 million. That home is one of four on which Keaton has collaborated with a longtime friend, designer Stephen Shadley. Most of the houses, built in the 1920s, are Spanish Colonials.
“I’d buy every one of them that comes up for sale if I could afford it,” Keaton, a preservationist, told this columnist in 2003 after paying in the $6-million range for the Bel-Air property.
When Shadley first saw the U-shaped hacienda, he was depressed because it had been “refashioned so much, there was no sense of the vintage Spanish Colonial it once was,” he said in the April edition of Architectural Digest. When finished, the house was full of period details, including a master-bedroom suite with a balcony and a new combination kitchen and family room that features a fireplace hearth covered in colorful California tiles.
The house, on nearly an acre, has five bedrooms, a library and seven bathrooms in slightly more than 7,000 square feet. The home, which wraps around a courtyard, also has a pool and a cabana.
Keaton won a best actress Oscar for “Annie Hall” (1977). She was also a best actress nominee for her role opposite Jack Nicholson in “Something’s Gotta Give” (2003).
Keaton, 59, has been linked recently with Keanu Reeves, 40. In a case of life imitating art, he played one of her admirers in the latter film.
Keaton is expected to appear in the movie “Da Vinci’s Mother,” which is in development, and to star in the crime comedy “Mad Money,” scheduled to start filming in October.
Aileen Comora of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented Keaton in selling the home.
Selling in Bel-Air; that’s not unusual
Singer Tom Jones has changed his tune when it comes to a house for his sister, Sheila. It seems Sheila wanted a one-story house, so her brother put the two-story he had purchased for her back on the market.
The two-story house, in the Bel-Air area with views of Stone Canyon Reservoir, is listed at about $1.7 million. The house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus an office, fruit trees, a pool, a tennis court and a gym.
The five-bedroom Bel-Air home he bought for his parents 24 years ago is also still for sale. The estate, on 2.5 acres, was first listed in April. The asking price is about $5.5 million.
Jones, 65, has been on the road with a show straight from the Las Vegas Strip. Among the Welshman’s signature songs are “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New Pussycat.”
Cecelia Waeschle of Sotheby’s, Malibu, has the listings.
Less star wattage at Los Feliz home
A Los Feliz home designed by Wallace Neff has passed out of celebrity hands for the first time in several years.
Katey Sagal, who starred as Cate Hennessy on the recently canceled ABC comedy series “8 Simple Rules,” has sold the one-story California Mediterranean estate for close to its $5.9-million asking price. The buyers work behind the scenes in the entertainment industry.
Sagal, who moved to another area of Los Angeles to be closer to her children’s schools, bought the property in April 2004 from actress Jenna Elfman, who had purchased it in 2000 from Madonna.
Both Madonna and Elfman lived in the home, built in the ‘20s, without an irrigation system for the grounds or air conditioning. Sagal installed both air conditioning and a watering system and added a family room, a laundry room and two more bathrooms. She also updated the kitchen.
The 2-acre gated estate has a main house with three bedrooms in 5,000 square feet and a guesthouse. Other features include arched doorways, stenciled beam ceilings, a library with a view of the grounds, and a formal dining room that opens to a veranda with city views.
Sagal starred during the ‘80s and ‘90s as Peg Bundy on Fox’s “Married ... With Children.” She started out as a backup singer for Olivia Newton-John and Bob Dylan.
In February, Sagal wed Kurt Sutter, writer and co-producer of the FX series “The Shield,” at the house.
Barry Sloane and Heidi Lake of Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills, had the listing, and Sloane also represented the buyers.
Malibu fits him like a glove
Maxfield boutique owner Tommy Perse likes to joke that he is now known as James Perse’s dad, because the younger Perse is a hot new clothing designer and retailer.
The 34-year-old James is going to town -- make that towns. In the last few weeks, he has opened stores in New York and Malibu. He already had a store on Melrose, across the street from his father’s, which is a high-end couture emporium.
James Perse’s self-titled stores sell his designs, which include body-skimming T-shirts; long-sleeved, butter-soft shirts; and an array of pants and jackets embodying the Southern California lifestyle.
Now, to go with his Malibu store, the younger Perse has purchased a Malibu home at just under its asking price of $5.9 million. The house, on 62.5 feet of beachfront, has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in about 2,400 square feet plus a guesthouse with two bedrooms and two living rooms.
Jack Pritchett of Pritchett-Rapf, Malibu, had the listing; Stephen and Max Shapiro of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.
