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Selling the Westside ‘Wing’

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Martin Sheen, who plays U.S. President Josiah Bartlet in the NBC series “The West Wing,” and his wife, Janet, have listed a Santa Monica cottage they have used as a pied-a-terre. The asking price is just under $2.2 million.

The house, which Janet Sheen renovated and redecorated, has two bedrooms, a den, a loft and 2.5 bathrooms in more than 1,400 square feet.

Built in 1950, the house has been owned by the Sheens for six years. It was described as a “hippie-type cottage” when they bought it.

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The hillside hideaway, which has ocean and mountain views, has been used by the Sheens as a stopping-off place en route to their longtime home in Malibu.

The cottage was midway if they wanted to go to an event in town, but now that Martin Sheen is doing the series, he is generally too busy to stay in Santa Monica, and his wife’s done with the refurbishing and ready for a new project.

The Emmy-winning actor, 61, has earned praise for numerous performances, including those in the series “Murphy Brown” (1993) and the movie “Apocalypse Now” (1979). He also has won accolades for stage work in London and New York, where he appeared on Broadway in such plays as “Death of a Salesman.”

The Sheens are parents of actors Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Ramon Estevez and Renee Estevez, who has played a staffer on “The West Wing.”

Jo Wilder of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills North, has the listing.

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Jimmie Rodgers, the three-time Grammy nominee who has sold more than 80 million records, including such hits as “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,” has listed his home 10 miles from Branson, Mo., at $350,000.

The singer-composer, who has been performing in Branson since 1992, when he opened his “Honeycomb Family Theatre” there, is selling his Missouri home on Lake Taneycomo as he is planning to move his show to the Palm Desert area next season or later this year so he can sing at night and play golf during the day. Performances of his one-man retrospective, “Jimmie Rodgers, His Life & Music” have been sold out nightly in Branson since 1999.

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Built in the early ‘70s, his house, which he bought in 1995, has four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms in 3,000 square feet. It is on 2.5 acres of wooded Ozark Mountain property.

Reached by a private road, the home has a master suite with a fireplace and a spa; a 1,000-square-foot detached workshop; a six-car garage; two private boat docks and 180-degree lake views.

Rodgers, 68, recently finished his 62nd album and has three animated film projects with original music ready for production. He performed songs for such movies as “Men of Honor” (2000) and “My Cousin Vinny” (1992), and he appeared with Jack Nicholson in the movie “Back Door to Hell” (1964).

A film is in the works about Rodgers’ career and recovery from a violent encounter in 1967 with an off-duty policeman in the San Fernando Valley. Rodgers’ head wounds from the incident halted his soaring career. It took him 15 years to recover. He underwent three brain surgeries and has a metal plate in his head, but during rehab, he learned to fly, took up skydiving and started running up to 13 miles a day.

Michael Rodgers, the singer’s son, sang with his father in Branson and was an opening act for Clint Black before earning a real estate license in January 2000 to spend more time with his family in the L.A. area.

He has the Missouri listing at Pinnacle Estate Properties in Northridge.

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Portia de Rossi, who plays attorney Nelle Porter on the Fox series “Ally McBeal,” has listed her Hollywood penthouse at just under $1.2 million.

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The actress put her condo on the market because she bought a nearby home in the mid-$2-million range.

The penthouse, which she has owned since February 2000, has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,600 square feet. The three-story condo also has downtown L.A. and Hollywood Hills views, 30-foot-high vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors and an updated kitchen with stainless-steel appliances.

The French Normandy-style building, constructed in 1930, has a doorman on duty around the clock. Former residents include Marilyn Monroe and Rock Hudson.

De Rossi, 29, purchased a Spanish-style home in Los Feliz, sources said.

She moved to the U.S. from her native Melbourne, Australia, in 1995, after making her film debut in the Australian movie “Sirens.” In 1998, she joined the cast of “Ally McBeal,” which will mark its series finale Monday.

De Rossi plays Richard Dreyfuss’ daughter in the recently completed comedy film “Who Is Cletis Tout?” and has the lead in the upcoming movie “The Night We Called It a Day.”

Brian Moore of Re/Max, Sunset Boulevard, has the listing.

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Tiiu Leek, former weeknight co-anchor at KTLA Channel 5 and an actress who has played a reporter in such series as “The Practice” and “NYPD Blue,” and her attorney husband, William Jacobson, have sold their Westwood home for slightly more than $1 million and moved to Orange County.

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Built in 1958, the ranch-style house has four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3,000 square feet. The home also has a breakfast area, two fireplaces, a lagoon-like pool and a spa.

Bernice and Janine Gershon of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills South, were the selling agents, and William Gubin of Coldwell Banker, Brentwood Court, had the listing, sources said.

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Oscar-winning sound supervisor Gloria Borders has purchased a home in Los Feliz for close to its asking price of $1.3 million, and she has sold her former home in the same area for about $689,500.

Built in 1937, the house she bought is Mediterranean in style and has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a media room and a 40-foot-long pool.

The house she sold, built in 1940, is Cape Cod in style and has two bedrooms and one bathroom in the main house plus a one-bedroom guest house. The home also has hillside and mountain views.

Borders, who had a long career at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound before moving in 2000 to Universal Studios, earned an Academy Award for her sound-editing work on “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991). She also worked on such movies as “Star Wars: Episode VI--Return of the Jedi” (1983), “The Godfather, Part III” (1990) and “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993). Borders won an Oscar nomination in 1995 for her work on “Forrest Gump.”

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Fred Holley and Jana Jones-Duffy of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills South, represented Borders in buying and selling.

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A Beverly Hills home built in 1927 for actress Loretta Young’s mother has been sold for about $3 million.

The gated Spanish-style estate was also a home during the late 1930s filming of “Gone With the Wind” for its leading lady, Vivien Leigh, and actor Lawrence Olivier.

Later, actress Jean Peters lived there when she was dating Howard Hughes. Peters, who met the billionaire in 1946, was married to Hughes for 14 years.

The home, sold by husband-wife entertainment attorneys Donald and Judith Engel, has three bedrooms and maid’s quarters in about 7,700 square feet. The home also has an office, recreation room, four fireplaces, nine bathrooms, a pool and a spa. The half-acre property has lush gardens.

Listing agent Sid Kibrick of Nourmand & Associates in Beverly Hills had eight offers on the house and sold it within eight days of its coming on the market, he said.

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Want to see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions? Visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty for more Hot Properties.

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