‘Rockford’ Files Claim on Ranch
JAMES GARNER, who played a dapper card shark in the ABC series “Maverick”(1957-60) and the resourceful detective Jim Rockford in the NBC series “The Rockford Files”(1974-80), and Lois, his wife of 33 years, have bought a 400-acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley, sources say.
Garner, an executive producer of “Mittelman’s Hardware”--an ABC movie starring George C. Scott that is due to air sometime during the 1991-92 season, co-starred in such “Hallmark Hall of Fame” TV productions as “Decoration Day” and “My Name is Bill W.”
He also co-starred in the movies “Victor/Victoria” and “Murphy’s Romance.”
The Garners bought the ranch property for about $3 million from Herb Ross--who directed such films as “True Colors,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Funny Girl” and “The Sunshine Boys”--and Ross’ wife, Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The ranch has what an area realtor described as “a smashing home site,” where the Garners are expected to build, and a 25-acre Chardonnay vineyard used by the Zaca Mesa Winery.
The Garners’ property is in Foxen Canyon, where movie producer Ray Stark (“Annie,” “The Electric Horseman,” “The Sunshine Boys”) and TV producer Douglas S. Cramer (Aaron Spelling’s partner in “The Love Boat,” “Dynasty,” “Hotel”) also have ranches and where actor Fess Parker is building his winery on a 700-acre site. Singer Michael Jackson, actress Cheryl Ladd and tennis star Jimmy Connors own homes nearby.
Garner, 63, and his wife eventually plan to move to their ranch from the West Los Angeles home they built more than 20 years ago, sources say. The actor has been quoted as saying that he was planning to buy in the Santa Ynez Valley to escape the violence and traffic of Los Angeles.
The Rosses had planned to build a home on the ranch but instead bought a large estate on the East Coast after razing a 6,000-square-foot home on the Santa Ynez property, local realtors said. “Nobody liked the architecture of the house that was there,” one said. “It was built in the shape of a hexagon and had long, connecting hallways.”
The Rosses had purchased the ranch in 1989, shortly after they were married and just before he sold his five-bedroom, eight-bath home in Santa Monica for about $4 million. He had shared that home with his wife, prima ballerina Nora Kaye, who died in 1987.
W. T. Hayer of Coldwell Banker Western Properties in the Santa Ynez Valley handled both sides of the Garner ranch deal, sources say, but he was unavailable for comment.
TED FIELD, executive producer of “Bird on a Wire” and “Three Men and a Baby” as well as the upcoming “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure II,” has sold his weekend Malibu Colony home for about $8 million, say realty sources not involved in the transaction.
He completed the four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home last June. He built it on property he bought in 1989 from actor Michael Landon.
Field paid Landon $6 million for a five-bedroom house with maid’s quarters, then practically demolished and rebuilt it, adding a loft-play area and office.
“It’s very modern, very high-tech,” said Paris Moskopoulos, who had the $10-million listing with his Paris Realty, Beverly Hills. He also has the $55-million listing on Field’s Beverly Hills home that was once owned by silent-screen star Harold Lloyd.
The Malibu house has a wall of glass facing the ocean, a circular steel stairway, a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, a swimming pool and a spa.
The buyer, who had been living in a condo in Century City, was represented by Marca Helfrich of Prudential Rodeo Realty, other real estate sources said.
Air Force Lt. Gen. JAMES A. ABRAHAMSON, director of the Pentagon’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) during the Reagan Administration and now an executive vice president of Hughes Aircraft, and his wife, Susan, have put their Tarzana home of a year on the market at $2.25 million.
The Abrahamsons decided to sell because it’s too long a drive, although he has a chauffeur, to his offices in El Segundo, said Jack Sammons, who has the listing with Fred Sands’ Sherman Oaks office.
The Abrahamsons’ home, a French Provincial, has four bedrooms and 7 1/2 baths in about 5,000 square feet on 1 1/2 acres behind gates with parking for 25 cars. The home, which was built in thelate 1940s, was remodeled in 1988.
The SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, which relocated with much fanfare five years ago from its longtime Sunset Strip headquarters to an old church on Hollywood Boulevard, is on the move again.
Citing a need for larger quarters due to expanding membership, the Guild will exercise its option to buy the property this month at $6.4 million and then will offer it for sale or lease through Entertainment RealtyCorp of Century City.
Built in 1919 but renovated by SAG after its lease-option was signed, the church building has a bell tower and 32,000 square feet of office space. “We need 50,000 to 60,000 square feet,” said Mark Locher, a Guild spokesman.