Malibu Shines for ‘North’ Star

LESLEY-ANNE DOWN, who stars in the final chapter of the ABC miniseries “North & South,” which begins next Sunday, and her husband, cinematographer Don Fauntleroy, who shot the trilogy, have purchased a $1 million home in Malibu.

In “John Jakes’ Heaven & Hell: North & South, Part III,” Down reprises the role of Madeline, which she played in the first two “North & South” parts. Her performance, as wife of Patrick Swayze’s character, earned her a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination.

Down, 39, who also co-stars with Charles Bronson in the film “Death Wish V,” was a child actress in England before co-starring in the TV series “Upstairs, Downstairs,” and in many other movies and TV projects, including “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

She and her husband bought a five-bedroom home plus guest house on slightly more than an acre, with views of the ocean. Although it is about 5 years old, the 6,000-square-foot home is “unfinished, so it’s like a blueprint,” Down said. “We plan to put down 16-inch Mexican pavers, do a lot of decking and put in a couple of fireplaces.”

One feature already in the house is a recording studio. “We’re giving that to our eldest child,” she said. “What better place for a teen-ager than a sound-proof room?”

She’s thinking of having horses on the property, because it backs up to equestrian trails in a state park. “But we already have three dogs, three cats and three kids.”

She and her husband had been leasing in Malibu since selling their Point Dume home. “We wanted someplace quieter, more countrified.” After two years of house hunting, they found it with the help of Gail Copley Spiegel of Jon Douglas Co.’s West Malibu office.

“People ask me why we want to live here,” Down said. “I say that I have never found anywhere more beautiful than Malibu.”

Best-selling author/New Age leader MARIANNE WILLIAMSON has sold her Hollywood Hills home for close to its $1.8-million asking price.

Williamson, 41, was living in a modest Los Angeles flat until 1992, when she wrote her best-selling self-help book “A Return to Love.” Then she bought her Hollywood home, former residence of the late actor-author Tom Tryon, for slightly less than $1.5 million.

With her book’s success, Williamson became a bi-coastal lecturer. She has been called “one of the most talked-about spiritual lecturers of today,” “Mother Teresa for the ‘90s” and “God’s Woman in Hollywood.” She has many celebrity supporters and, as a nondenominational minister, presided at Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding in 1991.

Williamson sold her home, with its three bedrooms and guest house, to lease a nearby house while deciding whether or not to move to New York or Washington, D.C., sources said. The buyer was identified as Donald DeLine, president of production at Touchstone Pictures.

DeLine was represented by Jeff Kohl of Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills. Williamson was represented by Rod Ostrom and Carl Romeo, both of the firm’s Sunset Strip office.

Longtime game-show host WINK MARTINDALE and his wife, Sandy, have purchased a home in Calabasas for just under its $1.2-million asking price, sources say.

The couple had been renting a condo in Westwood since selling their Malibu home to George C. Scott in 1987. “They couldn’t decide where to move until now,” a source said.

They bought a newly built, Tudor-style home. The master suite contains a circular sitting room, fireplace, kitchenette, three walk-in closets, an exercise room and a bath with a steam shower and spa tub.

Martindale, 58, has hosted such game shows as “Tic-Tac-Dough,” “Gambit” and “High Rollers.” He now co-produces, with partner Bill Hillier, “Trivial Pursuit,” “Jumble,” “Boggle,” “Scramble” and “Why Didn’t I Think of That?”

The Martindales were represented in their home purchase by Ronald Minich and Michael Kalinowski of Colonial Realty in Studio City, and the seller was represented by Pat Evans, Barbara Tanaka and Bill Andrews of Brown Realtors in Thousand Oaks.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has been getting its share of donations from celebrity landowners.

Last fall, BARBRA STREISAND gave the conservancy her 24-acre Malibu estate, which she had tried for years to sell. The home, said to be worth $15 million, was last on the market at $11.5 million. The write-off undoubtedly helped defray taxes on the $20 million she reportedly made in late December, performing at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

In early January, the conservancy received a gift of 60 acres of parkland in the hills above Studio City from JACK NICHOLSON. Then MERV GRIFFIN offered to give 104 acres in Benedict Canyon south of Mulholland Drive, next to his planned development of six estate homes.

Now there is talk that an unnamed donor will give a parcel of more than 50 acres in Benedict Canyon to the conservancy, with part of the property to become a museum, open by appointment only.