A Rancher? You Herd It Here First

JERRY VAN DYKE, who plays assistant coach Luther Van Dam on the ABC sitcom “Coach,” and his wife, Shirley, have listed their Toluca Lake home, owned by Bing Crosby in the 1930s and ‘40s and by Andy Griffith from the ‘70s to the ‘90s, at about $2.7 million.

The home is also the 1996 Design House of the Assistance League of Southern California and was refurbished by 20 designers and eight landscape architects. It is open today and Tuesday-Sunday, through Nov. 3, to benefit the 10 community-based organizations supported by the League.

“I love it,” Van Dyke said, referring to the way the house looks now that it has been renovated.

Built for Crosby in 1936, the home sustained major damage twice. The first time was in 1943, a year after Crosby sang the song “White Christmas” in the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn.” Faulty Christmas tree lights caused a fire, prompting the actor and his family to move. Then in 1994, a year after the Van Dykes bought the house, the Northridge earthquake destroyed four chimneys and collapsed the roof.

“We lived in it and the pool house for 2 1/2 years as it was,” Van Dyke said. “And when I bought it from Andy, it wasn’t in great shape. He had lived in it for 20 years. I had started to fix a few things before the earthquake, but I never knew how long the series would go.”

Now, however, he has decided to leave “Coach,” which began in 1989, after this season. “I’m negotiating to do a movie. So I’m not saying I will retire, though I’m 65,” he said. “My [older] brother, Dick, said he was going to retire after ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ [which ended in 1966], and look at him.” He stars in the series “Diagnosis Murder.”

Jerry Van Dyke and his wife are planning to spend more time on their 500-acre cattle ranch in Arkansas, her home state. And they may go more often to their Cancun retreat.

“But we don’t need all of these places,” he said, “and it’s just my wife and I in this big house.” The colonial-style home has six bedrooms, a library and breakfast room in 7,100 square feet. The two-acre estate also has a two-bedroom guest house with a kitchen, a cabana with a kitchen and a bath adjacent to the pool, a tennis court with two pavilions and several gardens.

The house and gardens will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $17 at the door. For information, call (818) 509-3898 or (213) 993-1098.

Michael Alley and Patti Chiarodit of Ramsey-Shilling Associates, Toluca Lake, share the listing.

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Former Laker forward JAMES WORTHY has sold his Pacific Palisades home for $1.8 million, sources say.

Worthy, who retired in 1994 after 12 seasons with the Lakers, was the first athlete to be interviewed for the Smithsonian’s new sports oral-history project. His trademark goggles and Lakers uniform also were added this year to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History collection.

Worthy, 35, has been a broadcaster during the last year, announcing NBA games for cable networks.

He bought his Palisades home for $2.6 million in 1989, sources said then. He moved into it in 1991, after adding three bedrooms and 5,000 square feet.

The 12,000-square-foot home has seven bedrooms, eight baths, a den, a gym, offices and a media room with a bar, all behind gates. The original home was built in 1981.

Leslie Kavanaugh and Shelli Broder of The Prudential-Jon Douglas Co., Brentwood office, shared the listing.

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Actor LLOYD BRIDGES and his wife, Dorothy, have listed their 2.5-acre Calabasas retreat at just under $1.3 million.

In September, the veteran actor’s son, Jeff, presented him with the Golden Boot Award of the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation to honor his work in such western classics as “High Noon” (1952).

He appeared regularly in son Beau’s CBS series “Harts of the West” (1993) and appeared in the movie “Blown Away” with son Jeff. This year, he was in the TV movie “The Deliverance of Elaine” and narrated the series “Sex and the Silver Screen.”

He and his wife of 50-plus years maintain their primary residence in West L.A.

Their gated Calabasas house has six bedrooms, maid’s quarters, a sun room with mountain views, and a media room with private entrance.

The 6,000-square-foot home also has a tennis court, pool, artist’s studio, workshop, office and guest quarters. The house was bought in 1990, expanded in 1991.

Birgitte Michaelsen of Coldwell Banker, Brentwood, and Enola Burrell of the firm’s Woodland Hills office share the listing.

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MESHACH TAYLOR, probably best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayal of Anthony Bouvier for seven seasons on the CBS series “Designing Women,” has just finished refurbishing a home he bought recently for a little less than $1 million in Altadena, sources say.

Taylor’s 6,000-square-foot home was built in 1924 by Egyptian artisans for the Egyptian ambassador to the United States. It is often noted on historic tours.

Taylor, 44, plays Sheldon Baylor, the neighbor and college buddy of Dave in the CBS comedy “Dave’s World.” The character is a divorced parent and plastic surgeon.

Taylor and his wife, Bianca, and their four children were living in a smaller Altadena house, which they have put on the market at $479,000. The 2,569-square-foot English country-style home also was built in 1924.

Susan Hull and Kim Atkinson-Melin, both of Podley Caughey & Doan in Pasadena, have the listing.

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ANDY MARX, grandson of the late comedian Groucho Marx and the late songwriter Gus Kahn (“My Blue Heaven,” “Mammy,” “My Buddy”), has listed his former home in Westwood at $543,000.

Marx, a writer who is developing a TV pilot and a review based on Kahn’s music, married Teresa Marie Press, head of marketing at DreamWorks SKG, in September, and they have bought a larger house in Westwood, sources say.

Marx’s former home is Cape Cod in style and has three bedrooms in 1,500 square feet plus a gazebo. The house was built in 1942 and was recently refurbished.

Marx, in his early 40s, and Press were married at Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Beverly Hills home; David Geffen, one of Katzenberg’s DreamWorks partners, attended.

Kay Pick of Mike Silverman Estates, a Prudential-Jon Douglas office, has the listing.