No Bones About His Bel-Air Digs
Actor Sam Neill, in town to film the movie “Jurassic Park 3,” has leased a home in Bel-Air for three months at about $20,000 a month.
“Jurassic Park 3,” also being filmed in Hawaii, is due to be released in July. Neill plays Dr. Alan Grant, the same role he played in “Jurassic Park” (1993), the first installment in the series.
The Irish-born actor, 53, co-starred with Kristin Scott Thomas and Helena Bonham Carter in the TV movie “Sweet Revenge,” which aired on Showtime in September, and he played Thomas Jefferson in the CBS miniseries “Sally Hemings: An American Scandal,” televised in February.
Among the movies in which he has appeared are “The Horse Whisperer” (1998), “Restoration” (1995), “Sirens” (1994), “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book” (1994), “The Piano” (1993) and “The Hunt for Red October” (1990).
The house that he leased has four bedrooms plus maid’s quarters in about 5,000 square feet. The home also has a fireplace, screening room and office. The parklike grounds have a pool, spa and cabana.
Neill maintains his primary residence in Australia, sources said.
Endre Barath Jr. of Fred Sands Realtors on the Strip in Hollywood represented Neill in leasing the home, which had been listed by Rick Hilton and Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, other sources said.
*
Texas Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton, who grew up in the Inglewood-Ladera Heights areas, has purchased a newly built Malibu home on two acres for his parents, Toni and Royal Clayton, for $2.5 million.
The couple’s three-bedroom 2,000-square-foot Ladera Heights home of 29 years is on the market at $380,000.
Their new home, a Mediterranean with an ocean view from Palos Verdes to the Channel Islands, has five bedrooms, including a bonus room, plus a library and five fireplaces in slightly more than 6,000 square feet.
Toni Clayton, who took early retirement in 1997 after 32 years with TWA, uses the bonus room as an office for the Royce Clayton Family Foundation, which has awarded $100,000 in college scholarships through the Jackie Robinson Foundation and sponsors an annual golf tournament to benefit the Sickle Cell Disease Assn. of America. The event will be held Nov. 3-5 in Phoenix.
Royal Clayton, a retiree for some time, is an excellent golfer, his wife said, and their sons are also avid golfers.
“Our boys felt that they had been fortunate, and that’s why they started the foundation in 1997,” she said.
Royce Clayton, 30, was a first-round draft pick with the San Francisco Giants in 1988. He later played for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is now into his third year with the Texas Rangers. He signed a four-year $18-million contract with the Rangers after the 1998 season.
His brother, Royal Clayton Jr., 34, is a pitching coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is a former pitcher in the Yankee organization.
“We always wanted to live in Malibu,” Toni Clayton said, “but it was a complete surprise [when Royce bought the house for them]. You don’t expect your kids to turn around and say, ‘This is for you.’ It’s a wonderful gift.”
Royce Clayton maintains his primary residence in Dallas; he has another home in Arizona.
Barbara Robinson of DBL Realtors, Beverly Hills, represented him in buying the Malibu home; Don Richstone of Coldwell Banker Previews, Malibu East, represented the seller, Harges Construction. Jim Ferguson was the builder.
*
Nancy Daly Riordan, wife of L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, has put a Bel-Air home that she owns on the market at $11.5 million.
The mayor is remodeling his house in Brentwood, and when the refurbishing is completed, the couple plan to move there. They also have a home in Malibu.
The mayor’s wife owned the home before they were wed in 1998. She was previously married to Dodger chairman Bob Daly, a former Warner Bros. studio executive.
The Bel-Air home has eight bed rooms in nearly 9,000 square feet. Built in 1929, the Mediterranean-style estate, behind gates, also has a tennis court, guest house, pool and motor court.
June Scott of June Scott Estates, a Coldwell Banker Previews company in Beverly Hills, has the listing.
*
David Murdock Jr., son of real estate developer David Murdock, has sold a Bel-Air home he built on spec for a bit under its $16.5-million asking price, sources said.
The 15,000-square-foot house, on 1.4 acres, was sold to a Westside businessman and his family.
The Mediterranean-style, seven-bedroom home has city-to-ocean views, a walnut-paneled library, a breakfast room overlooking a pool, a children’s playroom, a media room and a computer room that could be used as a gym.
Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, had the listing.
*
New York-based attorney Aaron Richard Golub, whose suspense novel “The Big Cut” was published in April (St. Martin’s Press, $24.95), has purchased a Sunset Strip-area home from prominent L.A. attorney Robert Darwell and his wife, Charlotte, for close to its asking price of $1.19 million.
Golub, 57, has represented such clients as Donald Trump, Christie Brinkley and director Ken Russell.
He bought a restored, 1920s-era villa with stenciled, arched ceilings. The 2,600-square-foot home also has three bedrooms, guest quarters and a workroom below the stairway, which also has a turret.
Golub owns a five-story townhouse on New York’s Upper East Side, where he also has law offices.
Victor Kaminoff, director of architectural and unique properties for Coldwell Banker Previews, Sunset office, had the listing, and Elaine Danenberg of Prudential John Aaroe represented Golub, sources said.
