Newharts Want More Room at Inn
Actor/comedian BOB NEWHART, who stars as a Vermont innkeeper in the 7-year-old CBS sitcom “Newhart,” wanted more land than he has at his current Bel-Air home, so he found another house a few blocks away on 1.31 acres.
He and his wife, Virginia, are buying it for $4.2 million, say sources not involved in real estate sales.
The price is considered a bargain for the neighborhood, as the house is on one of the choicest streets in the old part of Bel-Air. But the house is said to be a tear-down or a rehab.
“This could be one of those rare opportunities to create a major estate,” said one of the sources.
The house--a two-story country-English style with seven bedrooms and six baths in 6,110 square feet--was built in 1941. It was designed by the late architect Wallace Neff for screenwriter/director WALTER REISCH, whose family is selling it.
Reisch, who died in 1983, wrote this about the house in a 1982 letter to the architect’s son, Wallace Neff Jr.:
“For many years, since the day we moved in, the house was a regular meeting place of Hollywood’s most celebrated colony and still is. Walter Slezak, Edward G. Robinson, Max Reinhardt, Ingrid Bergman, Jack Webb, Billy Wilder, William Wyler and numerous other celebrities were prominent guests.”
Reisch arrived in Hollywood from England in 1937, and for the next two decades wrote such films as “Ninotchka,” starring Greta Garbo, and “The Titanic,” for which he won an Oscar. He was also one of the three writers of “Gaslight,” which had an Oscar-winning role for Ingrid Bergman.
JAMIE ROSE, who appears as actress Shelley Long’s mother in the ABC-TV miniseries “When Rabbits Howl” starting Wednesday, has purchased a two-bedroom, two-bath condo in Santa Monica near the ocean in the mid-$300,000 range.
Rose, who played Victoria Gioberti Hogan from 1981-83 in the TV series “Falcon Crest” before starring in the 1985-86 ABC series “Lady Blue,” has previously owned houses but decided to buy a condo because of its carefree upkeep and her busy schedule, said her mother, Reta Rose, who represented her in the sale. James Chalke of Alvarez, Hyland & Young represented the seller.
Reta Rose is manager of the George Elkins Co.’s Beverly Hills office, where George Elkins, the company’s founder and chairman, who will turn 90 on Thursday, still works everyday.
The 90-year-old, New York-based WILLIAM MORRIS AGENCY--which has counted Bill Cosby among its clients--is getting a $22-million office building on Beverly Hills’ most famous street. It is a few blocks from the recently completed, $25-million headquarters of rival Creative Artists Agency, which is at the intersection of Little Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards.
The new William Morris building will be at 150 S. Rodeo Drive, adjacent to the talent agency’s West Coast headquarters at 151 E. El Camino Drive. An elevated pedestrian bridge connecting the agency’s two buildings may be built after the offices are completed next fall.
Johnson Fain & Pereira Associates designed the three-story, 70,000-square-foot William Morris Rodeo, and Tishman Construction Corp. is project manager.
PETER MORTON, owner of the Hard Rock Cafe and the L.A. restaurant Morton’s, has purchased a house for close to its $2.55-million asking price at Carbon Beach in Malibu.
Johanna Falduto represented the seller, and Stephen Shapiro represented Morton. Both are with Stan Herman & Associates in Beverly Hills, where Morton also owns a house.
