Bel-Air Lease Is Reel Deal
SHERRY LANSING, one of Hollywood’s top executives, and her husband, Oscar-winning director WILLIAM FRIEDKIN, have leased a Bel-Air home after looking for a house to buy for four years, sources say.
Lansing, 52, was named chairman of Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group in 1992; in 1995, her contract was extended through 2000. Under her leadership, the studio had one of its biggest hits, the Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump” (1994).
Friedkin, 57, won his Oscar for directing “The French Connection” (1971). He went on to direct such other films as “The Exorcist” (1973) and “Jade” (1995).
The couple, married since 1991, had been hoping to buy a house in the $6-million range but decided, instead, to lease at about $25,000 a month for a year, sources say.
The house they leased was described as Country English in style with seven bedrooms in nearly 8,000 square feet. Built in the ‘30s, the home is on two acres with a tennis court, pool, motor court and private gated drive.
Lansing and Friedkin were leasing a four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot house in the Beverly Hills area, sources say. The couple had considered buying the house, where they had lived for several years, but they changed their minds.
That house was built about 1980 for Baron Herbert Hischemoeller van Kamphuyzen of the Netherlands and has stepped gables inspired by the 16th century castles and townhouses of Holland.
The Bel-Air home had been listed at $35,000 a month.
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Three-time NBA All-Star KIKI VANDEWEGHE, who finished his 13-year career as a professional basketball player with the L.A. Clippers in 1993, and his wife, Peggy, have put their Beverly Hills home on the market at $2.9 million.
“They just got married last year, so they want to sell and do something different,” a source said.
The house, which the former basketball forward has owned since 1988, has five bedrooms, maid’s quarters and a screening room in about 8,000 square feet on nearly an acre along the L.A. Country Club. Built in the ‘50s, the house was recently refurbished.
Vandeweghe, 38, is president of the sports-drink company Proteam Beverage, based in Southern California. He is also said to be putting together some joint-venture businesses. Last spring, he was named a part-time shooting coach for the Long Island Surf, a team in the United States Basketball League.
His sister, Tauna, is the team’s general manager. She was a swimming gold medalist in the ’76 Olympics and a volleyball silver medalist in the ’84 Olympics. Both attended UCLA. Their father, Ernie, played in the ‘50s for the New York Knicks.
Kiki Vandeweghe played for the Knicks in the late 1980s after averaging more than 20 points a game for a total of seven consecutive seasons with the Denver Nuggets and Portland Trail Blazers.
Bruce Nelson and Raymond Bekeris, both of John Bruce Nelson & Associates in Bel-Air, have the listing.
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CAROL BURNETT’s former Century City home, which she traded recently for a Wilshire penthouse (Hot Property, Jan. 19), has been listed by its new owner at $2.3 million. The new owner is an international investment firm.
The five-bedroom, 6,600-square-foot detached villa, in a guard-gated community, was built about eight years ago for the actress-comedian, who appeared recently as Helen Hunt’s mother on the NBC sitcom “Mad About You.”
The interiors were designed by Anita Ludovici de Domenico, who also designed the interiors of Burnett’s Wilshire penthouse and Santa Fe house.
Richard Stearns and Steve Moritz, both of Fred Sands Estates in Brentwood, share the listing.
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A representative of the SULTAN OF BRUNEI has made what is believed to be the most expensive private-home purchase ever in Las Vegas, paying $8.5 million for a nearly 11,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style house with six bedrooms and 20 baths, sources say.
The home is on almost two acres within a gated community. The seller was owner of an L.A.-area company.
The sultan is said to have had a compound in the same development for some time, and he is building a home on 15 acres across town that he bought in November 1995.
The sultan is building a 150,000-square-foot private resort in Las Vegas and wants the private residences for visiting dignitaries, family and friends, sources say.
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RICK HILTON, one of late hotelier Conrad Hilton’s grandsons, has sold his Bel-Air home of five years for about $4.3 million, sources say. The six-bedroom, nearly 6,000-square-foot house on just less than an acre was previously the home of actress Jaclyn Smith.
Hilton, in his early 40s, represented himself and his wife, Kathleen, in the sale through his Beverly Hills realty firm, Hilton & Hyland. The asking price had been $4.95 million. Built in the ‘30s, the house has a media room, ballroom, sun room plus city and golf course views.
Hilton plans to build a home for himself and his family in the Hilton residential development of Brentwood Country Estates. He has been living temporarily in New York, “pursuing hotel interests,” sources say.
His father, Barron Hilton, is chairman of Hilton Hotels Corp., which launched a takeover bid late in January for rival ITT Corp, whose holdings include Sheraton hotels and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
