Singer Writes a New Tune

Singer-songwriter BARRY MANILOW, who completed a world tour this summer and has two albums in the works, has sold his longtime Bel-Air home and is looking to buy another residence in the Los Angeles area, sources say.

Manilow, who scored 25 consecutive Top 40 hits starting with “Mandy” in 1974, has been appearing in concert this fall, performing some big-band hits, which he has sung with a six-piece combo and a trio of backup vocalists.

He is working on a collection of older love songs and an all-original album as well as on a Broadway show based on the lives of six Jewish a capella singers in 1930s Berlin. During the last two years, Manilow, 50, scored soundtracks for the animated films “The Pebble and the Penguin” and “Thumbelina.”

He sold his Bel-Air home of 17 years for close to its $2.45-million asking price, sources say.

The Bel-Air home had multiple offers and was sold to a local television producer, sources say. The gated home, on two acres, has many pathways, a long driveway and city views. The nearby Bel-Air Hotel regularly provided Manilow with room service, sources say.

Built in the late ‘50s, the 3,700-square-foot home was remodeled by Manilow, who expanded it to include a guest house and a building with a screening room, gym, game room and recording studio, where he wrote many songs.

The Bel-Air home had been co-listed by Brett Lawyer of Nourmand & Associates and Ron De Salvo of the Prudential-Jon Douglas Co., and the buyers were represented by Heidi Lake of Fred Sands Estates.

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Producer PETER GUBER has purchased a Bel-Air home on five acres for lot value, or close to$4 million, sources say. The 4,500-square-foot house was built in the 1950s.

Guber lives nearby and is said to own the house next door to the one he purchased, leading to speculation that he is creating a compound.

Guber, in his early 50s, stepped down as chairman of Sony Pictures in September 1994, with a lucrative payout, including a share of a $50-million bonus. He and Jon Peters were lured to Sony with an outlay of more than $700 million to lead the company in 1989.

Since leaving Sony, Guber has been running his Mandalay Entertainment, producer of Robert De Niro’s “The Fan.”

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SHADOE STEVENS, who plays Dave’s editor Kenny on the CBS sitcom “Dave’s World,” has listed his Beverly Hills home at just under $2.3 million.

Stevens, in his early 40s, starred in the 1990 CBS series “Loose Cannon” and has written a children’s book “The Big Galloot” (Dove Publishing), due out in May 1997.

Stevens decided to sell his home because he wants more “room to expand and an art studio,” he said. “My wife, Beverly, and I have dreamed of having a property with more room to grow. Our daughters are now 5 and 9, and we’re all ready for something new.”

He and his wife have owned the home for four years. Built in 1951, it has four bedrooms and a maid’s quarters in 5,000 square feet. On 1.2 acres behind gates, the Country French-style home has a mosaic-tile roof in five pastel colors, nine skylights, silk upholstered walls, a blue, mosaic-tile pool, tennis court and playhouse.

The home is listed with Bob Hurwitz of Hurwitz James Co., Brentwood.

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LORENZO LAMAS, who stars in the series “Renegade” and appears with Roy Scheider and Gary Busey in the upcoming movie “Word of Honor,” has sold his home in Poway, near San Diego, for $900,000, sources say.

Lamas, 38, listed the home last spring at $1.2 million, about the time he bought a Los Feliz residence with his bride, May Playboy playmate Shauna Sand, for $1.8 million.

Lamas had owned the 3,500-square-foot Poway home for three years. The home, on three acres, has a main house built of cedar, redwood and teak, a master suite with a spa, a barn with five stalls, and a guest house. Aaram Djagharbekian of Coldwell Banker, Glendale, had the listing.

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The Beverly Hills home of the late PANDRO S. BERMAN, who produced such landmark movies as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939) and “The Blackboard Jungle” (1955), has been listed at$2.2 million with his daughter, Cindy Berman Schaffel of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills.

Berman died in July at 91. He produced 115 movies from 1929 to 1970, featuring dozens of stars, including Elizabeth Taylor. Among her films, he produced “National Velvet” (1945), “Father of the Bride” (1950), “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) and “Butterfield 8” (1960).

The Beverly Hills home is Colonial in style and has four bedrooms in 3,500 square feet. The house was built in 1923. Berman lived there for 35 years.

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Veteran filmmaker BURT KENNEDY, who directed such westerns as “Support Your Local Sheriff” (1969) and “Mail Order Bride” (1964), has spent more than $500,000 remodeling his Tudor-style Sherman Oaks home, installing a saloon-style bar with a poker loft, a source said.

Kennedy, in his early 70s, plans to direct a World War I adventure film on location in Africa next year.