Malibu Is Her New ‘Medicine’
Whoopi Goldberg, executive producer and creator of the new TV series “Strong Medicine,” has purchased a Malibu home for $3.75 million.
The Oscar-winning Goldberg (best supporting actress, “Ghost,” 1990), who has a recurring role as Dr. Lydia Emerson in her fall Lifetime series, also produces and appears on the new “Hollywood Squares” game show.
She was in Canada in September, filming the ensemble comedy “Rat Race,” expected to finish shooting this month. She also appears as Death in the live-action, animated fantasy film “Monkeybone,” due out in January, and co-stars in the family comedy-drama “Kingdom Come,” to be released in April.
Her three-bedroom, contemporary-style home in Malibu was built in 1999 but has since been completely remodeled and landscaped.
The 2,200-square-foot home includes a two-bedroom main house and a detached guest house/studio with a kitchen.
The privately situated home also has 40 feet of beach with sand dunes and ocean views.
Jack Pritchett of Pritchett-Rapf & Associates, Malibu, had the listing, other sources said.
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Richard Gere, who stars in the upcoming movie “Dr. T and the Women,” has sold his Malibu home for close to its $10-million asking price. The buyer has been described as being in the entertainment business, behind the scenes.
The actor, who co-stars with Winona Ryder in the movie “Autumn in New York,” had owned the property since 1995. It has been on and off of the market since March 1999.
Gere, 50, and former “Law and Order” star Carey Lowell, 39, live mainly in New York with their son, born early this year.
The Malibu home includes a three-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot house on a bluff, two guest houses, a cottage on the sand, a pool and a tennis court. The compound also has 90 feet of private beach.
The houses were built in the ‘50s. They have not been enlarged but were recently refurbished.
Chris Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker Previews, Malibu West, had the listing.
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Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, has purchased a Malibu home on half an acre for $17 million plus some furnishings, Malibu sources said.
Andreessen, 29, filed his plans last week to raise an estimated $150 million in an initial public offering, or IPO, for his Sunnyvale-based Web services company Loudcloud Inc. When Netscape went public in 1995, Andreessen was one of the first Internet pioneers to become a multimillionaire. In September, Fortune magazine estimated his net worth at $498 million.
Just before buying his new Malibu home, Andreessen sold his former Malibu Colony getaway, previously owned by the late Herbalife founder Mark Hughes, for $9 million, Malibu Realtors said.
Andreessen had owned the former Hughes home since February, when he bought it for just under $8 million. About a year ago he bought a 7,000-square-foot home in Virginia, where he planned to host political fund-raisers and parties.
The Nevada businessman who sold Andreessen his new Malibu home purchased the 7,000-square-foot Malibu home of movie/TV mogul Barry Diller. A source close to the purchase said that the Diller property, on about three acres, sold for $9.9 million; however, other reports are that it sold for $12.5 million.
Diller, 58, built Fox as a network, then took the top job at QVC and later headed Home Shopping Network. Diller, who has been living in L.A. and New York, had owned his Malibu home since 1987. The property was also once owned by singer Kenny Rogers.
The new owner, who had gutted and rebuilt the 6,000-square-foot house that he sold to Andreessen, plans to do the same but on a bigger scale with the 7,000-square-foot Diller house, sources said.
Brian Harper of Fred Sands, Malibu, and Kathryn Davis and Sharon Armitage of Prudential-John Aaroe, Brentwood, represented him in his Malibu deals.
Chris Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker Previews, Malibu West, represented Diller.
Valerie Fitzgerald of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills North, represented Andreessen.
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Sandy Gallin, the Hollywood manager-producer known for buying and redoing houses, has listed one of his two Malibu properties at $15 million. Until the Andreessen purchase, home sales in the neighborhood ranged from $4 million to $8 million.
Gallin, an executive producer of the WB series “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” has represented such stars as Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Diamond.
He bought the home he is selling in April for an undisclosed price. The home is on just over three acres next to Barry Diller’s.
Gallin re-landscaped his property, creating easy access by private path to 285 feet of sandy beachfront. The site also has a two-bedroom, 3,000-square-foot house with a guest apartment.
June Scott of June Scott Estates, a Coldwell Banker Previews company in Beverly Hills, has the listing. This is Scott’s 27th home deal representing Gallin.
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Judith Parker, a writer and producer who worked on the hit “L.A. Law” series and many TV movies, has put her Beverly Hills home on the market at just under $3 million.
“The house was a two-year, passionate project of mine,” she said. After four years of owning the house, and two of those years spent orchestrating the renovation, she’s ready to move on.
“I did the house completely,” she said. “I left the old facade and created a past for the house that it only hinted at.”
Built in the 1920s, the Prairie-style house, reminiscent of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs, has four bedrooms in about 4,500 square feet.
The rooms have Arts and Crafts detailing. The family room has two walls of mahogany bookcases. The master suite has a fireplace and views of the gardens. There is also an office-studio-playroom and a detached guest-maid’s room.
Barry Sloane, who specializes in historic and architecturally significant properties at Sotheby’s International Realty in Beverly Hills, co-lists the home with Ron Holliman of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills North.
