Their ‘Thing’: A Major Fixer
Two-time Oscar-winning actor TOM HANKS, who made his directing debut in his recently released “That Thing You Do,” and his wife, actress RITA WILSON, have purchased a 4,000-square-foot fixer-upper in Pacific Palisades for its asking price of $3.2 million, sources say.
Hanks, who won back-to-back Oscars as Best Actor in “Philadelphia” (1993) and “Forrest Gump” (1994), appears in “That Thing You Do,” which he also wrote. He also co-starred as astronaut Jim Lovell in “Apollo 13” (1995) and was the voice of Woody in “Toy Story” (1995).
Wilson, who met Hanks when she played opposite him in the comedy “Volunteers” (1985), has a small role in “That Thing You Do.” She was also in his “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and appeared in “Mixed Nuts” (1994) and “Now and Then” (1995). They were married in 1988.
“It was a probate case and sold the first day it was on the market,” a source said of the couple’s home purchase. “It’s a total redo, but it’s on one of the best pieces of land in the Palisades.”
“They may just tear it down and build new,” another source said.
The house, which has four bedrooms and six baths, was built in the 1950s and was owned for the last 35 years by the same woman. The house is on an acre of land near the Riviera Country Club and homes of Whoopi Goldberg, Steven Spielberg and Sugar Ray Leonard, sources say.
Hanks, 40, and Wilson have a home behind gates in Malibu that he bought five years ago for close to $3.25 million, sources have said. The beachfront home has three bedrooms, a housekeeper’s room and a guest apartment.
Hanks and Wilson have two children. He also has two children from a previous marriage.
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The Brentwood townhouse of NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON is in escrow and due to close in a few days near its last asking price of $595,000, sources say. The buyer was described as a Century City attorney.
The townhouse has been on and off the market since before Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered on the walkway leading up to it in June 1994.
The buyer plans to reconfigure the walkway, installing landscaping and leveling the stairs so the murder site will be difficult to recognize. The address may be changed and a wall built in an attempt to erase other signs of the crime scene.
The four-bedroom, 3,400-square-foot townhouse was due to be auctioned in December or January, but the buyer stepped forward and an offer was accepted. The seller is Simpson’s estate, managed by her father, Lou Brown.
The townhouse, which Simpson bought in January of 1994 for $652,000, was listed in November, after her murder, at $795,000.
The townhouse would be worth in the low $600,000s if there had been no murders there, according to a study by Randall Bell of Bell & Associates in Laguna Niguel and Santa Monica. Bell is a real estate consultant specializing in properties with “detrimental conditions.” He determined the impact of the murders on the property value for the Nicole Brown Simpson estate.
The eight-room townhouse has three levels and a rooftop patio. Built in 1991, it shares a wall with the adjacent unit but is not considered a condominium. The townhouse also has 3.5 baths, a two-car garage and a kitchen with granite tops and a Sub-Zero refrigerator.
Barry Bierman of Gamson & Associates, Encino, represented both sides in the sale.
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Swedish supermodel VENDELA, who plays Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife in the upcoming movie “Batman and Robin,” has put her Beverly Hills home on the market at slightly more than $2 million. Vendela, 29, was on the 1993 cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
The house was intended to be a gift to the model about a year ago from her friend, movie producer Jon Peters, with whom she had an earlier five-year relationship. However, Vendela wrote Peters a check for the house after escrow closed, sources say.
During the past year, she married a friend from her hometown and now spends little time in L.A., sources say.
The one-story home has three bedrooms plus maid’s quarters. The master suite has a sitting area and fireplace. Built in the ‘50s, the 3,200-square-foot house, on a cul-de-sac, was extensively remodeled by Vendela.
The house, which also has city to ocean views, is listed with June Scott of June Scott Estates, a Jon Douglas Co., Beverly Hills.
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CHARLIE ROBINSON, who co-stars in the new Ted Danson-Mary Steenburgen sitcom “Ink” as crime reporter Ernie Trainor, has signed a lease with an option to buy a $200,000 condo in the Toluca Lake area, sources say.
Robinson, 51, played Mac Robinson, the laid-back court clerk, on the NBC sitcom “Night Court” from 1984 to 1992, and he played bartender/manager Abe Johnson on the CBS sitcom “Love & War” from 1992 to 1995.
He and his wife, Dolorita, leased the unit for a year. The refurbished unit has two bedrooms, a fireplace, wet bar and vaulted ceilings in 1,200 square feet.
Jon Molin and Shirley Duenckel at Ramsey-Shilling Associates, Toluca Lake, handled the deal.
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JOE DANTE, director of the upcoming HBO movie “The Second Civil War,” has listed his Malibu home at $1.45 million.
The Beau Bridges-James Coburn-James Earl Jones comedy is due to air in 1997. Dante has directed many films including Tom Hanks’ “The ‘Burbs” (1989).
He is selling his Malibu residence because he recently bought a home in Hollywood, a source said. His Malibu home has two bedrooms in a bit more than 1,500 square feet, built in 1978. It is in a gate-guarded community.
Sid Kibrick of Fred Sands Estates, Beverly Hills, has the listing.
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A Montecito home once owned by actress Jane Seymour has been sold in the $3-million range, sources say.
The asking price was $4.5 million. It was listed at $6.2 million in 1991. Seymour and her ex-husband, David Flynn, sold it in 1994 for about $2.9 million, sources said at the time.
The estate has a four-bedroom main house plus three guest houses on 3.5 acres. The buyer was described as a businessman from Phoenix. Steve Slavin of the Estates Division, the Prudential-Douglas Co., Montecito, represented the buyer.
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UPDATE: Paula Abdul’s upcoming ABC movie (“Hot Property,” Nov. 17) is now titled “Touched by Evil.”
