‘Meathead’ in ‘Family’ Home
Director ROB REINER and his wife, photographer MICHELE SINGER REINER, have purchased the longtime Brentwood home of NORMAN LEAR, writer-producer of the TV sitcom “All in the Family,” in which Reiner played Archie Bunker’s live-in nemesis Michael (Meathead) Stivic.
Reiner left the show after eight years at the end of the 1977-78 season to become one of Hollywood’s hottest directors, with such credits as “When Harry Met Sally . . . “ and “Misery,” whose star, Kathy Bates, has been nominated for a “Best Actress” Academy Award.
Lear, who produced a number of Reiner-directed films including “Stand by Me” and “Princess Bride,” has several TV shows in development, and his “Sunday Dinner,” a six-episode series for CBS starring Robert Loggia, is expected to air sometime this year.
Lear had owned the Reiners’ new home since 1972. He first listed it last spring at $6.5 million, then reduced it to $5.45 million. It sold for $4.75 million, say sources not involved in the deal.
The two-story, New England-style home has six bedrooms, six baths and two staff quarters in about 10,000 square feet. The house is behind gates on less than an acre, with a swimming pool, pool pavilion and gardens. A tennis court on a lot across the street was included in the sale.
The house was built in 1936 and was owned first by actor Henry Fonda, who sold it to actor Paul Henreid. Lear and his ex-wife, Frances, were the third owners. They added a screening room and a guest suite. He kept the house after his $112-million divorce settlement in 1987.
He and his third wife, Lyn Davis Lear, and their little boy, Ben, have moved to a nearly new, 12,300-square-foot house, which they bought in 1988, off Mandeville Canyon. Lear has been quoted as saying that it cost $15 million to buy and remodel, including the addition of a 30-car parking facility under a tennis court that was under construction last fall.
The Reiners have been living in the Beverly Hills Post Office Area, sources say.
Actress SUSAN ST. JAMES and her husband, NBC Sports President DICK EBERSOL, have been doing some interior decorating at their newly built home in Telluride, Colo.
They bought the ski-in/ski-out home for close to its $1,575,000 asking price, sources say.
She owned a duplex in Telluride for 20 years, “so they moved from that into this huge log home,” a source said.
The new home has five master suites and 6 1/2 baths in four levels and 6,300 square feet. It also has a large, stone fireplace, an observation tower and an elevator. It was built by San Gabriel Valley-based Owen Development.
This is a second home for the couple, who make their permanent home in Litchfield, Conn.
BRUCE JENNER, a gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics who has since worked part time for NBC and raced on the Trans Am circuit for Firestone, has leased an ocean-view home in Malibu for a year at $7,000 a month, Malibu sources say.
Built four years ago, the $2-million home has five bedrooms and maid’s quarters in 5,500 square feet. It also has a pool and a spa.
Jenner was previously living in Malibu with his wife, from whom he recently separated, the sources said.
Ira P. Greenspon at Malibu Realty had the listing, but wouldn’t comment on the listing when contacted.
The late actor ERROL FLYNN’s Hollywood Hills estate has been sold to RANDY MILLER, president and co-founder of New York Seltzer.
“The estate has four totally landscaped acres, a beautiful pool, tennis court and forest,” said Denise Fraker, who represented the buyer and sellers through Jon Douglas Co.’s Beverly Hills office.
“The only thing missing is the house,” Fraker said.
The sellers, Stephen and Judith Weis, tore down the residence, built by Flynn in the late 1920s. The late pop singer RICK NELSON, who owned the property at one time, was the last person to live in the house, Fraker said.
“It was OK for my client, the buyer, because he wants to build a house,” she added.
The property sold for close to its $4.3-million asking price, other real estate sources said.
DAN ENRIGHT, president and chief executive officer of Barry & Enright Productions, and SUSAN STAFFORD, who preceded Vanna White for seven years as hostess of NBC’s “Wheel of Fortune,” have listed their 15th-story penthouse, on a bluff in Santa Monica, at $8.3 million, including a 1979 white Clenet specialty automobile said to be in mint condition.
Barry & Enright, formed in 1947, has produced such shows as “Concentration,” “The Joker’s Wild” and “Tic Tac Dough.”
The 3,000-square-foot condo has 360-degree views and a separate guest or maid’s unit on a separate floor.
Enright and Stafford want to move to larger quarters right on the beach, and are considering the South Bay, sources say.
Nili Hadash of Fred Sands’ Brentwood office has the listing.
