‘Edith’ leaves Bel-Air for Big Apple

Jean Stapleton, who won three Emmy Awards for her role as the lovable “dingbat” and wife of Archie Bunker on the CBS series “All in the Family,” has sold her Bel-Air home for about its $4.4-million asking price.

Stapleton, 80, who has been doing mostly stage work on the East Coast in recent years, lives in New York and is rarely in California.

She has owned the home since the late 1970s. The traditional-style house, built in 1933, has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a remodeled kitchen in slightly more than 4,300 square feet. The house also has a den, pool and city views.

Before starting to play Edith Bunker in 1971, Stapleton performed several times on Broadway, where she originated the roles of Sister in “Damn Yankees” and Sue in “Bells Are Ringing.” She reprised those roles in the film versions and has appeared in many repertory theaters as well as in the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, Pa., which she co-founded as a summer theater in 1958 with her husband, the late producer-director William H. Putch.

After character Edith Bunker died in her sleep of a heart attack in 1980, Stapleton starred in “The Late Christopher Bean” at the Kennedy Center, made her operatic debut in “Candide” with the Baltimore Opera Company and played Eleanor Roosevelt in a CBS film. In the 1990s, she toured in a one-woman show about the former first lady.

In 2000, while still performing on stage as Roosevelt, she also co-starred with Farrah Fawcett in the TNT original movie “Baby.” Last year, she had a leading role in Horton Foote’s drama “The Carpetbagger’s Children” at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater.

Richard Minchenberg of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, represented both sides of the Bel-Air deal, sources said.

Spreading mystery in Santa Barbara

Bestselling mystery writer J.A. Jance and her husband, Bill Schilb, have purchased a Craftsman-style Santa Barbara home for $2.6 million.

The three-bedroom, 3,600-square-foot home, on an acre, was built in 1922. It was owned at one time by the Winchester rifle manufacturing family. The seller was a Dutch investment company.

Jance, 58, and Schilb, in his early 60s, also own homes in Seattle and Tucson. The couple plan to divide their time between the houses, flying from one state to another in their private jet.

Jance, who has sold more than 11 million copies of her books worldwide, is currently on tour promoting “Hour of the Hunter.” Her next novel, “Exit Wounds,” is due out in July.

Schilb helped create the hand-held phone for Motorola.

Yeager catches a deal in the Valley

Steve Yeager, a catcher for the L.A. Dodgers for 14 seasons from the early 1970s until the late 1980s, has purchased a home in the North San Fernando Valley for just under $1 million.

Yeager, who played in four World Series and shared the three-way MVP award in the ’81 series, bought the home from J.T. and Jhoanna Wiegman, who make custom clothing for professional athletes.

The Wiegmans purchased a newly built 5,000-square-foot-plus home in a gated community in Calabasas for just under $1.5 million.

The house Yeager bought has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a game room in about 3,000 square feet. The recently remodeled home also has a new pool and spa.

Yeager has been credited with inspiring the dangling throat protector on the catcher’s mask after a freak 1976 accident in which he was hit in the neck with the jagged end of a broken bat.

The nephew of legendary pilot Chuck Yeager once posed for a Playgirl centerfold. Today Yeager, 54, is a public speaker. He appeared in February at the Wellness Community Valley/Ventura Salute to Baseball at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Jordan Cohen of Re/Max Olson Estate Brokerage, Westlake Village, represented the Wiegmans in selling, and he represented Yeager in buying.

‘Days’ no longer to be spent on Sunset

Peter Reckell, who plays Bo Brady on the NBC daytime series “Days of Our Lives,” and his wife, singer-songwriter Kelly Moneymaker, have put their Sunset Strip-area home on the market at just under $1.7 million.

The couple recently purchased another house in the L.A. area that they plan to remodel. They remodeled the home they are selling.

The nearly 4,600-square-foot home was built in 1954 but was refurbished in the last five years. It has soaring vaulted ceilings, three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a study-office and an apartment with its own bathroom, kitchen and entrance.

The master suite has a fireplace and a deck with city views. A guest room has a sleeping loft and a bathroom with an old-fashioned tub. The billiard room has a fireplace, and the living room has a fireplace, loft and a large-screen TV with a projector and surround sound. The country kitchen also has an entertainment area.

Reckell, who originated the role of Bo Brady in 1983, left the series twice and returned after appearing during the late ‘80s on “Knots Landing” and in 1999 in the film “Broken Bridges.” Reckell also has appeared in many stage productions.

Moneymaker, who founded her own label, Midnite Sun Records, has released such solo CDs as “Through the Basement Walls,” a collection of ‘60s-inspired rock songs, including a track pre-released as the love theme for “Day of Our Lives” couple Bo (played by Reckell) and Hope.

Reckell and Moneymaker marked their fifth wedding anniversary Friday.

Randal Smith of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, has the Sunset Strip listing.

‘Dinotopia’ star finds Venice canal

Erik von Detten, a contestant on the ABC-TV show “Celebrity Mole Hawaii” who has been a regular as Karl Scott in the series “Dinotopia,” has leased a home in Venice for a year at about its list price of $2,400 a month.

Von Detten, 20, has appeared routinely for years in the pages of teenage pin-up magazines.

The one-bedroom, 440-square-foot bungalow that he leased is on a canal and has a garage that was converted into a studio. The home, built in 1925, also has a patio and a backyard.

Von Detten started out as a child actor, appearing in such movies as “All I Want for Christmas” (1991) and, the same year, originating the part of Nicholas Alamain on “Days of Our Lives.” He voiced the sadistic bully Sid in the animated feature “Toy Story” (1995) and starred the same year in the Disney remake of “Escape to Witch Mountain,” which aired as an ABC Family Movie.

In 1997, he co-starred as Wally Cleaver in Disney’s feature-film remake of the TV sitcom “Leave It to Beaver.”

More recently, Von Detten played Drew Lamerly on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2002-2003), was the voice of Flynt in Disney’s “The Legend of Tarzan” (2001-2002) and played student Josh Briant in the movie “The Princess Diaries” (2001).

Jane Angwin of Coldwell Banker, Marina del Rey, represented Von Detten in his lease.

‘House’ writer buys canyon home

Jason Filardi -- who wrote the Disney movie “Bringing Down the House,” co-starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah -- has purchased a Beachwood Canyon home for close to $800,000.

Filardi bought a 1,600-square-foot house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, art walls, a floating staircase, an office, a pool and a garden.

It was built in the 1960s and recently refinished. It also has a terrazzo entry, maple floors and stainless steel kitchen appliances.

Filardi also wrote “Navy Seal,” a military comedy to be produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, and “Ghetto Buck,” to star Martin Lawrence.

Chris Laib and Jan Barnow of Prudential California-John Aaroe had the listing. The seller was John Pigram, principal of a marketing research firm based in Los Angeles.

Nicole Bray of DBL, Sunset, represented Filardi.

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