Sitcom mastermind Norman Lear asks $55 million for Brentwood estate
Legendary television producer and writer Norman Lear has put his estate in Brentwood on the market at $55 million. Perhaps “The Jeffersons” co-creator and writer has a “deee-luxe apartment” in mind next.
The close to 10-acre knoll-top property was used to entertain political and Hollywood giants during Lear’s 27-year tenure there. Those were the days, to borrow the theme song title from his hit show “All in the Family.”
The main house features an entry hall, a two-story library, a formal living room, seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and four powder rooms.
There are also two guesthouses, office facilities, security offices, a gym, a tennis court, a swimming pool and a 35-car garage.
The compound features city, ocean and mountain views.
Lear, who turned 93 this summer, produced a stream of successful sitcoms beginning in the 1970s with such hits as “Maude,” “One Day at a Time,” “Good Times” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”
He won multiple Emmy Awards for the groundbreaking “All in the Family,” which dealt with such rarely addressed issues as rape, racism and homosexuality.
The property previously changed hands in 1988 for $6.5 million, public records show.
Fred Bernstein of Westside Estate Agency is the listing agent.
Gearing up for a move East
Actress Sela Ward and her husband, Howard Sherman, have put their Bel-Air estate on the market at $39.995 million because they are planning to move to New York.
The couple rebuilt the mansion into a French country home during their 12 years of ownership, handpicking items from the Paris Flea Market and New Orleans boutiques and using wood from vintage structures in Mississippi and Louisiana. Ward hails from the South.
The sprawling eight-acre property includes 14,000 square feet of living space in a main house and two guesthouses, a stream with a footbridge, a vineyard, a 100-seat outdoor amphitheater and a swimming pool.
The reconstructed house is structured to follow the contour of the property while blending European elegance with American sensibilities. Features include a home theater that seats 30, a stone-walled kitchen, a massage room, a pub, 13 bathrooms, 10 carved wood or stone fireplaces and vaulted antique wood-beam ceilings.
There are five bedrooms in the main house, one in what has been used as an art studio and another in a guest cottage that has a screened porch and a rose garden.
Stone terraces and verandas lead to walking paths and four-wheeler trails. A series of waterfalls feed into koi ponds. The man-made swimming pond is bordered by a sand beach, a stone cabana, a putting green and a miniature golf course.
Ward, 59, has had a varied film and television career. In recent years, she has been in the series “CSI: N.Y.” and “House M.D.” She starred in the 1990s dramatic series “Sisters” and the family/romance series “Once and Again.” She will be in next year’s sci-fi film “Independence Day: Resurgence” and last year was in “Gone Girl.”
Branden Williams and Rayni Romito of Hilton & Hyland, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, and Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker are the listing agents.
A quick sale down under
Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and her husband, playwright and director Andrew Upton, had little trouble finding a taker for their historic home in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
Listed in mid-August for about $14.75 million, the sandstone-faced house known as Bulwarra sold for about $14.1 million after just three weeks on the market.
Originally built in 1877, the renovated contemporary features open-area spaces, natural tones and a floating staircase framed in jet-black steel.
Three floors of living include formal living and dining rooms, a center-island kitchen, an office/library and five bedrooms. The master suite, complete with a skylight-topped dressing room and garden views, occupies one wing of the home.
Sliding walls of glass open to treed one-acre grounds containing a guesthouse, a covered pavilion, a swimming pool and spa, a tennis court, a boat shed and direct access to the nearby Lane Cove River.
Ken Jacobs of Christie’s International Realty was the listing agent.
Blanchett, 46, is known for her Academy Award-winning performances in “The Aviator” (2004) and “Blue Jasmine” (2013). She is slated to play Lucille Ball in an upcoming biopic written by Aaron Sorkin.
Upton, 49, previously worked as the artistic director for the Sydney Theatre Company for the last five years. Among his adaptations for the production were “Hedda Gabler,” “Don Juan” and “Children of the Sun.”
‘Resident Evil’ actress moving on
Actress Ali Larter, who is set to reprise her role as Claire Redfield in the final installment of the “Resident Evil” film franchise, has put her home in Hollywood Hills West on the market for $4.85 million.
Designed by architect Brian Murphy and built in 2007, the three-story contemporary features 5,500 square feet of open space, walls of windows and a staircase framed in glass and steel.
Interiors done in wide-plank oak floors include a formal living room, a center-island kitchen and a lower-level media room. A gym/office is accessed by a separate entrance.
The master suite has a fireplace, a private balcony and a steam shower for a total of four bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms.
An upper sun deck overlooks a flat lawn and a swimming pool and spa. Mature landscaping and canyon views complete the half-acre setting.
Larter, 39, has appeared in such films as “Varsity Blues” (1999), “Final Destination” (2000) and “Obsessed” (2009). Among her TV credits is “Heroes” and “Legends.”
She bought the house in 2009 for $2.925 million, public records show.
Steve Frankel of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage has the listing.
Coach bags a beach house
As the Lakers new-look roster continues to take shape, Coach Byron Scott has made a free-agent acquisition of his own, buying an ocean-view house in Hermosa Beach for $1.799 million.
About four blocks from the beach, the two-story home fills out the box score with four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in more than 3,300 square feet of living space.
Among its features are a marble-lined entry, a slab-stone fireplace in the living room and an updated kitchen with a wide center island. The master suite sports dual vanities, wood floors and a glass-enclosed shower.
Outdoors, a second-story patio done in slate has a built-in barbecue and ocean views. A second patio with a trellis and a fountain feature sits off the main level.
Chad Fahlbusch of NWRE Brokers was the listing agent. Taria Lewis and Earl Williams of the Brokers, Tolbert and Associates, represented the Lakers coach.
Scott, 54, played 11 seasons for the Lakers during his NBA career, winning three championships. As a coach, he twice led the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals and was named NBA coach of the year with the New Orleans Hornets in 2008.
He returned to the Lakers as head coach last year, agreeing to a four-year, $17-million contract.
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