‘Thelma’ Buys Hills Hideout
Oscar-winning GEENA DAVIS, who co-stars with Tom Hanks and Madonna in the upcoming baseball film “A League of Their Own,” has purchased an old home in the Hollywood Hills for $1.3 million.
Davis was nominated as best actress in this year’s Academy Awards for her role as Thelma in “Thelma & Louise,” but she won an Oscar as best supporting actress for her part as a weirdo dog trainer in the 1989 film “The Accidental Tourist.”
She also played a San Fernando Valley manicurist who falls in love with a furry, blue alien, portrayed by her then-husband Jeff Goldblum, in the sci-fi musical movie “Earth Girls Are Easy” (1989), and she played a ghost who haunts her own house in “Beetlejuice” (1988).
She and Goldblum met while making the 1985 movie “Transylvania 6-5000.” They also appeared together in the 1986 film “The Fly,” in which he played the title role. They were married in 1987 and were divorced last year. They had been living in West Hollywood.
Davis bought an 8,000-square-foot house built in the early 1920s for an Italian family, who wanted to copy their home in Italy. The Mediterranean-style house has six bedrooms plus chauffeur’s quarters and a living room that is about 30 feet long.
The home also has a gym and views of the mountains, Dodger Stadium or the Westside from every window. Actress Jane Withers, who was a child star and later appeared in many TV commercials as Josephine the Plumber, was a former owner.
Davis didn’t take title in her name but is expected to do a little renovating and make it her residence, said sources not involved in the transaction.
The property had been listed by Dorothy Carter and Jodi Hodges of Jon Douglas Co.’s Sunset office. They were unavailable for comment.
ED McMAHON, who will leave NBC-TV’s “Tonight Show” on Friday, after performing as Johnny Carson’s sidekick there for 30 years, has put his getaway, Malibu condo on the market at $995,000.
The condo has four bedrooms and three baths in about 1,800 square feet. It’s on the water and has been described as “very quiet” and “at the end of Malibu, near the Ventura County line.”
McMahon won’t be using the unit much once he leaves the “Tonight Show,” as he will live part-time in Orlando, Fla., where production has been shifted for his “Ed McMahon’s Star Search,” a new name for his 9-year-old syndicated hit, known previously as “Star Search.”
He will maintain his Beverly Hills home of a couple of years, however, as he will produce some shows himself through his Los Angeles-based McMahon Communications.
Among the shows being planned are “Ed McMahon’s Ireland” and a special about yachts around the world that are owned by famous people.
McMahon owns the 50-foot-long Chris-Craft cruiser “Miss Katherine,” named for his adopted 6-year-old daughter, Katherine Mary. McMahon, who has four grown children from his first marriage, got remarried for the third time in February.
Katie Ribnick and Jeff Chertow share McMahon’s listing at Fred Sands’ Malibu beach office.
Actress OLIVIA HUSSEY has purchased a Topanga Canyon home for slightly more than $900,000 and sold her Coldwater Canyon home for about $1.3 million.
Two years ago, Hussey played Norman Bates’s mother in “Psycho IV: The Beginning” and Richard Thomas’s wife in the TV miniseries “It,” but she is probably best known for her co-starring role in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 hit “Romeo and Juliet.”
After her film debut, Hussey was married and divorced twice, once from singer Dean Martin’s son, Dean Paul Martin, who was killed in a 1987 plane crash. Her live-in love is rocker David Glen Eisley, sources say. Hussey has two sons, one from each marriage.
Her new Topanga home has five bedrooms and five baths in 8,000 square feet. Built about 1981, the Spanish-style, gated home has balconies with ocean views from almost every room.
The 1.5-acre property, on a knoll, was for sale 18 months ago at $1.7 million. Hussey bought the home through foreclosure. Ilan Douek shared the listing with Michael Gola in the REO Division of RE/MAX’s Beverly Hills office.
Hussey’s former home, in Coldwater Canyon, is on just under an acre. The gated, English-style house is about 6,000 square feet in size and had been listed by Scott Sandler of Prudential California Realty. Sandler also represented Hussey in buying her new home.
A former Beverly Hills home of late actress MARLENE DIETRICH and, at another time, of actress Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan has been sold.
One week after it was put on the market, the five-bedroom, 8,500-square-foot home sold in a transaction valued at close to its nearly $2.3 million asking price, said sources not involved in the deal.
One of the last classic Art Deco style houses in Beverly Hills, the home was built in 1928 and has a 400-square-foot dining room, an 800-square-foot living room, a 55-foot lap pool, a reflecting pool, chauffeur’s quarters and a wine cellar capable of holding 5,000 bottles.
The property had been listed by Bob Hurwitz of the Hurwitz-James Co. in West Los Angeles.
