He flirted, now Dr. Phil’s ready for commitment

Phil McGraw, host of the syndicated talk show “Dr. Phil,” and his wife, Robin, liked the area where they had been leasing so much that they purchased a newly built home in Beverly Hills just before the holidays for about $7.5 million in cash, real estate sources said.

They had been leasing another Beverly Hills home at $20,000 a month since coming to California from Texas this past year.

The home they bought has about five bedrooms in an estimated 12,000 square feet. The walled and gated home, on nearly an acre, also has two fireplaces, a library, a master suite with a sitting room, limestone floors, a pool, a guesthouse, a three-car garage and a circular drive.

The pool is lined with imported, mature palm trees, and there is a grand entry in the main house, with a sweeping circular staircase.

“Dr. Phil” was launched in September. Before that, the Dallas psychologist, 52, appeared weekly for a few years on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” wrote self-help books and co-founded the Texas-based legal consulting firm Courtroom Sciences Inc.

Winfrey became his mentor after he coached her through a lawsuit and trial with the Texas cattle industry. Winfrey credited him with helping her to triumph in the case in which a cattle breeders’ association had filed a libel suit over remarks Winfrey had made about beef.

‘Happy Days’ mom lists home

Marion Ross, who played Mrs. Cunningham on the sitcom “Happy Days” (1974-1984) and has a recurring role as Drew Carey’s mother on “The Drew Carey Show,” has listed one of her two beach houses in Cardiff by the Sea at $679,000.

The actress has lived primarily at her Happy Days Farm in Woodland Hills since the early 1980s, but she also has owned the side-by-side beach cottages for years, inheriting the one she is selling from her mother in 1973. Ross has been using that cottage as a guesthouse and the other one as a weekend getaway.

She long held a notion of growing old in one of the cottages while housing help in the other. Instead, Ross, in her early 70s, put a second story on one so she could see the ocean, “and it turned out to be so grand, we didn’t need the other house,” she said.

The house that is on the market has two bedrooms and one bathroom in slightly more than 1,200 square feet. It was built in 1951 and has French doors, formal living and dining rooms, hardwood floors, Spanish tile and a den with a wood-burning fireplace. The houses are four blocks from the beach and about a 30-minute drive north of San Diego.

Ross recently appeared on “Gilmore Girls,” “That ‘70s Show” and “Touched by an Angel.” She is also the voice of the grandmother on the popular children’s cartoon show “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Kelly Howard and Michael Hegedus at Coldwell Banker, Encinitas, have the listing.

From Down Under to Hills dweller

Natalie Imbruglia, the singer-songwriter who was once a soap-opera star in her native Australia, has purchased a Hollywood Hills home for about $2.1 million.

Imbruglia, 27, bought a five-bedroom, 5,400-square-foot Mediterranean-style home, built in the 1950s. The house also has six bathrooms, a media room, a deck, a guest room/office, a patio with fountains and city views, and an attached three-car garage.

The singer, who became a pop sensation four years ago with her hit single “Torn” from her debut album, “Left of the Middle,” left L.A. earlier this month to go on tour in Australia. She appears in the movie “Johnny English,” a British spy spoof starring Rowan Atkinson and John Malkovich. It is scheduled for release in March.

‘Gilmore Girls’ actor makes move

Chad Michael Murray, who has had recurring roles on the WB’s “Gilmore Girls” and “Dawson’s Creek” and plays the Lone Ranger in a two-hour movie to air on the WB in February, has purchased a Sherman Oaks townhouse for nearly $600,000.

The actor, 21, moved to L.A. from Buffalo, N.Y., a little more than two years ago. He plans to do some remodeling, putting in hardwood floors and new tile in the three bathrooms. The 2,500-square-foot townhouse has three bedrooms, a fireplace, spa and deck with a bar.

Murray recently completed principal photography on the Disney movie “Freaky Friday,” due out next fall.

Francine C. Meyberg of Coldwell Banker, Sherman Oaks/Encino, represented Murray in his purchase.

‘NYPD Blue’s’ McGee trades up

Jack McGee, who plays Sgt. Mahoney on “NYPD Blue” and Bert on “Family Affair,” and his wife, Stephanie, have purchased a Studio City home for $589,000 and sold their former home, in the same area, for $480,000.

The McGees sold their former home to Kevin Blank, visual effects supervisor for the TV series “Alias.” Blank moved up from a Studio City condo he bought two years ago.

The house that the McGees bought has two bedrooms in 1,420 square feet. Built in 1949, the traditional-style home also has two fireplaces, a den, a dining room with wainscoting; plantation shutters, hardwood floors and ceilings with wood beams.

The house that the McGees sold has three bedrooms in 1,550 square feet. The Spanish-style home, built in 1923, also has a guesthouse, gardens and a pool.

McGee, who worked as a firefighter in New York City before he became an actor, has appeared in such movies as “Basic Instinct” (1992), “Backdraft” (1991), “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989) and “Lethal Weapon 2” (1989). He has been in many series and had a recurring role in “Chicago Hope.”

Diane Sydell of Prudential, John Aaroe, in Encino represented the McGees in selling and buying, and she represented Blank in buying the McGees’ former home and his condo.

The wrecking ball fells Pink Palace

High-end sales watchers might be so dazzled by the numbers on the Westside this year that they haven’t noticed that a well-known Holmby Hills house that sold in September is no longer there.

It wasn’t officially a landmark, but it was a familiar sight for many motorists and Old Hollywood fans traveling on Sunset Boulevard.

The Pink Palace, which became famous as the home of the late actress Jayne Mansfield, was built in 1935 for crooner Rudy Vallee. Until September, it had been owned since the ‘70s by singer Engelbert Humperdinck.

The seven-bedroom, 8,200-square-foot house, on 1.5 acres, was sold as part of a 10-acre compound that included two other homes, one of which also has been razed. The compound sold in the low $30-million range to Roland Arnall and his wife, Dawn. He is a longtime Democratic supporter and owner of Ameriquest Capital, a financial services company.

The Pink Palace needed work, and it would have been hard to fix with its small rooms, low ceilings and few closets. The lot, which sloped into a ravine, needed regrading, Realtors said. This might explain why the house had been on and off the market for 13 years.

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To see previous columns on celebrity transactions visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty.