Mr. Right Likes Hancock Park

JOHN MALKOVICH, who stars as Lenny in the upcoming film version of John Steinbeck’s classic novel “Of Mice and Men,” has become a first-time home buyer with his purchase of a 1920s Hancock Park house.

Malkovich co-starred with Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1988 movie “Dangerous Liaisons,” and he played opposite Debra Winger in the 1990 film “The Sheltering Sky.” He also appeared in “The Killing Fields” (1984), “Making Mr. Right” (1986), “Empire of the Sun” (1987) and “The Glass Menagerie” (1987).

An Illinois State University graduate, he started the Steppenwolf Ensemble in Chicago with a group of college friends and then went on to co-star on Broadway and television with Dustin Hoffman in the 1984 revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.”

Malkovich, now 37, won an Oscar nomination for his role in the 1984 film “Places in the Heart.” About the same time, Malkovich, currently a bachelor, directed his then-wife, actress Glenne Headley, in plays on and off Broadway.

He is preparing to direct his first film and was co-executive producer of “The Accidental Tourist” (1988).

Malkovich bought a 3,800-square-foot home with three bedrooms plus maid’s quarters and a guest house in the Windsor Square area of Hancock Park. He paid close to the $1.2-million asking price, said real estate sources not involved in the sale.

The Spanish-style home also has a gated entry to a courtyard, a circular staircase with a cupola, a breakfast room opening to an outdoor swimming pool, tropical gardens and an updated kitchen with built-ins and a pantry.

“He was looking for a home in New York and London but decided to make his home in L.A.,” said Ron Perkins of RE/MAX in Beverly Hills, who represented Malkovich. Alice Buckley of Coldwell Banker, Hancock Park, had the listing.

Malkovich was filming “Of Mice and Men” in Northern California when escrow closed recently but moved into his new home a few days ago when he returned to Los Angeles for some in-studio scenes. The movie version, written by Horton Foote, is expected to be released by MGM/Pathe next fall.

An offer has been accepted on SAMMY DAVIS JR.’s Beverly Hills home, which came on the market last December at $4.25 million.

The offer is subject to confirmation and overbid, starting at $2,851,250, in Superior Court on Dec. 2.

A court-ordered auction in September of Davis’ personal effects failed to cover the more than $5.3 million in taxes, mortgage payments and other debts the entertainer left behind when he died a year ago May. The home sale may be necessary to help settle his estate.

Davis had owned the home since the early ‘70s.

Built in 1938 and later remodeled, the gated property has a main house with about seven bedrooms in nearly 11,000 square feet. The site also has a two-bedroom pool house and a separate structure with a kitchen and dining room, where Davis entertained when he cooked.

“He was a gourmet cook,” said Elaine Hunt, who has the listing with Spinello Realty, Malibu.

DEAN TORRENCE, of the 1960s’ Jan & Dean surf-rock duo, has put his Hollywood home of 22 years up for lease at $4,000 a month.

EMI Records just reissued such Jan & Dean hits as “Little Old Lady From Pasadena” and “Surf City.”

Torrence and his wife bought a two-bedroom home in Huntington Beach, officially nicknamed “Surf City,” two years ago when she was pregnant, and they have continued to stay only occasionally in the Hollywood home.

“I love the old house,” he said of the home built in 1924 in the “Hollywoodland” development and reportedly occupied by actor Humphrey Bogart from 1938 to 1940.

“I did a lot of work in it. I built a pond to run underneath one of the two drawbridges. The house is built on a hillside and there is an illusion of going over a moat as you approach the front door.”

But life in the four-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot Hollywood house became too trying with a toddler.

“Babyproofing an old house is difficult,” he said. “It just got too rough with the hills and the stairs. Besides, a couple of my band members live down Huntington Beach way, so our wives hang out together when we’re on the road.”

Laker Coach MICHAEL DUNLEAVY, his wife, Emily, and their three young sons have settled into their newly built six-bedroom, seven-bath home in Santa Monica, which they purchased for $2.1 million, according to public records.

The house is about 7,700 square feet in size, including a 2,000-square-foot basement, which has a guest room, maid’s quarters, wine cellar, laundry and media room. The home also has an elevator and a pool.

Described as “rustic, California Mediterranean,” mainly because of its heavy beams and timbers, the house was designed by JSC Associates and built by Morrow & Morrow.

Dunleavy, who succeeded Pat Riley as Laker coach about a year ago, and his family were living temporarily in Bel-Air after relocating to California from Milwaukee.

JENNIFER O’NEILL, the former model who starred in “Summer of ‘42” (1971) and the 1990 TV movie “Personals” and many series over the years, has put her 26-acre Malibu ranch on the market at nearly $4.2 million. She’s lived there about six years.

The ranch, which she calls her “equestrian center,” has a three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath house; 25 horse stalls, corrals, a tack room, caretaker’s unit, hot walker, pastures and numerous mature oak trees.

“Due to her expanding horse-breeding program, she is looking for more acreage, though she’s undecided yet as to where,” a spokesman for O’Neill said.

Jeff Chertow of Fred Sands Realtors’ Malibu Beach office and Steven Kay of the firm’s Hollywood Hills office share the listing.