A Model Sleuth Moves On

Cybill Shepherd, who appeared earlier this year in the Showtime movie “Due East” and is developing a musical play based on her life, has listed her gated, mountaintop home in the San Fernando Valley at just under $3.5 million.

The single actress, who has three children, is looking for smaller quarters now that the younger ones are away at school.

Shepherd, who starred in her own series “Cybill” on CBS-TV during the ‘90s and co-starred earlier with Bruce Willis in the TV series “Moonlighting,” has lived in her Valley home for eight years. Built in 1951, the house was virtually razed and rebuilt about 10 years ago.

The home, on about an acre, has five bedrooms plus maid’s quarters and 7 1/2 bathrooms in just under 7,000 square feet. The main house has a master retreat with a steam shower, spa tub and two walk-in closets. The kitchen has granite and stainless-steel built-ins. The house also has an upstairs study with a balcony.

The grounds have a large motor court and a soccer-sized play yard as well as a guest house, tennis court, wine cellar, pool, spa and canyon and valley views.

Shepherd, 52, is also working on developing what she calls her “unreality TV show,” spurred on by the success of “The Osbournes” on MTV and her autobiography “Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think” (HarperCollins, 2000).

In March she performed in a cabaret show on the London stage. The actress, who has performed as a singer in several venues and has recorded four jazz albums, also has co-starred in a number of movies since making her film debut in “The Last Picture Show” (1971).

She is a native of Memphis, Tenn., where she also owns a home.

Lou Woolf at Coldwell Banker, Sherman Oaks, has the listing on the San Fernando Valley home.

Fess Parker, who played Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett on TV during the ‘50s and ‘60s and now owns a winery in the Santa Ynez Valley, and his wife, Marcy, have listed their Montecito home on a golf course at $3.2 million.

Built in 1997, the Mediterranean-style home has three bedroom suites, all with walk-in closets and marble bathrooms; four fireplaces; a pool; a pool house and a three-car garage.

The actor, 77, and his wife, a singer, have owned their home in the gated community of Birnam Wood Golf Club since 1998 but have become disenchanted with the commute to their Fess Parker Vineyard in Foxen Canyon, where they also have a home, and the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn and Spa in Los Olivos.

Daniel Encell, director of the Estates Division of Prudential California Realty, and Paul O’Keeffe of Joyce Gibb Realtors, both in Montecito, share the listing.

Debbi Morgan, who co-stars with Lea Thompson in the new Lifetime series “For the People,” has purchased a Hollywood Hills home for about $1.5 million.

The house, formerly owned by baseball star Matt Williams of the Arizona Diamondbacks and his actress-wife, Michelle Johnson, has three bedrooms in nearly 2,700 square feet.

Built in 1951, the gated contemporary also has a new kitchen and bathrooms, including a steam shower. On the grounds are a pool, a spa and a grassy yard.

Morgan, who portrays a newly elected L.A. district attorney on “For the People,” played Mae Thelma Carter, the wife of Denzel Washington’s character Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, in “The Hurricane” (1999). She has made recurring guest appearances on the WB series “Charmed” as the evil Seer and previously appeared on many daytime dramas.

Brian Vincent Moore of Re/Max, Sunset Boulevard, represented Morgan in her purchase, and Judy Cycon of Prudential John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, had the listing, sources said.

Paddy Cullen, associate producer of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997) and producer of “The Brothers” (2001), has just finished an eight-month restoration of a Hollywood Hills house built in 1923 for actor Richard Dix.

Cullen bought the walled and gated Italian-style home last year for close to its $859,000 asking price. The 2,600-square-foot house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms plus a guest unit. The living room has a Batchelder fireplace and a sun room. The home also has a pool, spa and city views.

Dix was one of a few actors who made the transition from silent pictures to talkies. He was best known for his cowboy roles and earned an Oscar nomination for his part in “Cimarron” (1931). He died in 1949.

Cullen is also executive producer of the upcoming romantic comedy “Down With Love,” starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and David Hyde Pierce. The movie finished shooting this summer and is due out in April.

Nancy Sill of Prudential John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, represented Cullen in her purchase; Vida Namouli of Coldwell Banker had the listing.

Nineteen Westside homes have sold for more than $10 million each so far this year, in contrast with 12 for the same period last year, according to Cecelia Waeschle, the Coldwell Banker broker who has tracked area high-end sales for 15 years.

Seventy-one Westside homes have sold at more than $5 million each this year, in contrast with 48 for the same time frame in 2001, she said, and 190 sold at more than $3 million each this year, compared to 158 for the same time last year.

One Westside sale is pending at close to $30 million. The biggest deal that closed escrow so far this year was for a Bel-Air home that sold for nearly $21 million. The seller was Kevin Wendle, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Internet movie guide Ifilm.

Last year, the highest home sale in the area was $30 million for the Malibu home of the late Mark Hughes, chief executive officer of Herbalife.

Sylvester Stallone’s nearly $15-million Beverly Hills-area sale to media mogul Sumner Redstone and Dick Clark’s $15-million Malibu purchase are among the highest of the Westside home sales recorded from January through August of this year.

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