Michael Fox’s Secret Out on New House

MICHAEL J. FOX, who is about to make two sequels to his 1985 hit “Back to the Future,” and his bride since last July, actress TRACY POLLAN, bought a house last December so quietly that news of it just surfaced in the past few days.

Title wasn’t taken in the actor’s name, but several real estate sources indicated that the house, located somewhere in Bel-Air, was purchased for Fox and his wife at a price of $2.6 million.

The secrecy is a must, the sources said, because a woman was arrested last month for allegedly sending Fox an estimated 5,000 notes threatening to kill him, his wife and their unborn baby.

Fox and his wife have a large home, with room for their horses, on the East Coast, but their house here has only eight rooms, according to public records. It is also very private and secure, sources say.

Singer CAROL LAWRENCE has sold her Beverly Hills-area home of 24 years to actress JANE SEYMOUR and her business manager/husband David Flynn.

During the past two years, the Flynns have bought, remodeled and sold, at a profit, five houses off nearby Coldwater Canyon, but they plan to live in this home, Lawrence said before escrow closed last week on the $2.25-million sale.

“I was worried that somebody would buy the house and tear it down, so I’m thrilled that Jane is coming in here with her husband,” Lawrence said.

The house has 17 rooms, including six bedrooms and six baths in 6,980 square feet. The two-story contemporary was built in 1937. Lawrence bought it with singer Robert Goulet, father of her two sons. Goulet and Lawrence were divorced in 1980.

“When I first put the house on the market, I thought I couldn’t leave,” Lawrence said. “I’ve lived here as long as my (eldest) son has been alive. But now my children are grown and in college, and I don’t need to rattle around by myself on almost four acres.”

Lawrence is moving to a townhouse with a view, at MountainGate in Brentwood.

“It feels wonderful to move on, and I’m going to a place that I can lock up so I can go off to do movies in Australia and plays on Broadway. I’m having an enormous job weeding out things, because I am a pack rat. I even have my first tap (dancing) shoes.”

Margie Oswald and Cecelia Waeschle of Merrill Lynch/Rodeo Realty represented Lawrence, and Jana Jones of Alvarez, Hyland & Young represented the Flynns.

For 30 years, GRETA GARBO lived, when she came West, in the guest house of an estate that is now for sale, say Bobbie McCall and September Kimble of Alvarez, Hyland & Young, who share the $2.9-million listing.

The one-story, French Regency-style residence on nearly three acres in what is known as the Beverly Hills Post Office area, was owned by nutritionist GAYELORD HAUSER, who died the day after Christmas, 1984. Garbo hasn’t been back in the past three or four years, the realtor said.

“She stays mainly in her penthouse in New York,” McCall said, “but Mr. Palermo (Hauser’s nephew, Tony Palermo) talks with her frequently.” Hauser left the house to Palermo and his wife, Nellie, who live in Milwaukee.

Garbo, a companion of Hauser who also invested with him in real estate on Rodeo Drive, apparently liked Hauser’s home because it is secluded and behind gates.

“Many famous people stayed there while it was Dr. Hauser’s,” McCall said, listing the Duke of Windsor and diplomats from all over the world among Hauser’s guests. Hauser bought the home in the 1930s.

JON PETERS, co-producer of “Rain Man,” is apparently spending some of the big bucks he’s making on that hit film. The word in real estate circles is that he has entered escrow on a Beverly Park house at more than $6 million and that he just bought a house he is remodeling, on a dozen acres in Santa Barbara.

If you thought the $175,000 a month mentioned here Feb. 19 was a lot to pay for rent on a Beverly Hills house, get this:

Joan Lewis, with the Prudential Lido Realty on Lido Isle, said, “When I was with Stan Herman in 1980, I rented a house on the Westside for one week at $55,000.”

The renters, Texas oil people, only wanted it for a week. “The man wanted to go to the Super Bowl and the lady spent four of those days at the spa in La Costa,” Lewis said.