Queen Latifah signing up the house

Queen Latifah, who co-starred with Steve Martin in the comedy film “Bringing Down the House” and was nominated this year for an Oscar for her supporting role as the prison matron in the movie-musical “Chicago,” has leased a Hollywood Hills home for about $10,000 a month for a year.

The actress-rap singer, named entertainer of the year at the Essence Awards in June, had been living primarily on the East Coast. She was born and raised in New Jersey.

The gated Hollywood Hills house has five bedrooms in nearly 4,000 square feet. The three-story villa, built in 1995, has a spiral staircase, high ceilings and a slate deck. The home also has an indoor pool, gym, media room and city views.

Queen Latifah, 33, made a name for herself in music before she became a well-known actress, although she had appeared in such TV series as “Living Single” on Fox (1993-97). She hosted a syndicated talk show (1997-2001) and won a Grammy Award in 1994 for best rap solo performance.

Among her upcoming movies are “Barbershop 2,” “Beauty Shop,” a remake of the French comedy “Taxi” and a film with the working title “Bad Girls” with Jada Pinkett Smith.

She was born Dana Owens and bestowed “Queen” on herself when she started rapping. While a child, she was given the nickname “Latifah” by a cousin. The Arabic word means delicate, sensitive and kind.

Patrick Norman of DBL, Sunset, had the listing, and Sonja Gibson of the same office represented the actress.

Sampras’ ‘lucky’ home served up

Tennis champion Pete Sampras has put the Benedict Canyon home he bought in 1998, a couple of years before he got married, on the market at $3.75 million.

He and his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, purchased another Beverly Hills-area home in the mid-$8-million range in January 2002, and they have been refurbishing it. They listed it at $8.9 million in March but changed their minds and took it off the market soon afterward.

The home that the tennis star just listed has four bedrooms and four bathrooms in 5,000 square feet. The house is on about 1.5 acres up a long, gated drive. Walls of French doors lead to a pool and a grassy yard. There is, of course, a tennis court.

The home, built in 1976 and later remodeled, was previously owned by saxophonist-songwriter Kenny G, who maintained a recording studio there. The Samprases have been using the studio as a family room. The country-traditional house was described as being in move-in condition.

“I say that it is a good luck house, because Pete met his wife, got married and won the U.S. Open after buying it,” said listing agent Loren Judd of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills.

Sampras, 32, was the first male to win the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open in succession, but in July, as defending U.S. Open champion, he officially withdrew from this year’s event, making Andre Agassi the top-seeded male player. Earlier in the year, Sampras withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon.

Wilson-Sampras played the bride-to-be who hires Jennifer Lopez in “The Wedding Planner” (2001). This year, she taped a segment for the new season of “CSI: Miami” and appeared in the movie “Extreme Ops,” released in April on video.

Couple expands Ellen’s house

Jim Beaver, who stars in the upcoming HBO western series “Deadwood,” and his wife, actress and casting director Cecily Adams, have purchased a Studio City home from comedian Ellen DeGeneres for $520,000. Beaver and Adams are nearly tripling its size from 1,110 to more than 3,000 square feet.

The couple also put their west Van Nuys home of 15 years on the market at $439,000. The remodeled home, with a master suite and fireplace in 2,100 square feet, is in an area known as Lake Balboa, on the northern edge of Encino, west of Van Nuys Airport. The home has an exercise area and a garden.

Beaver, in his early 50s, and Adams, in her 30s, bought the Studio City house so they could live closer to CBS-Radford Studios, where Adams has her office. Adams, who played Moogie on the series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1997-2000) and is the daughter of “Get Smart” star Don Adams and singer Adelaide Adams, casts “That ‘70s Show.” Beaver co-starred with Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet in “The Life of David Gale.” “Deadwood” is in production and due to debut in 2004.

DeGeneres had used the Studio City home for her mother, who moved to a condo, Beaver said. The house, in the Grove section of Studio City, was built in 1940 and was owned for many years by the late cowboy actor-singer Bob Nolan, who appeared in more than 100 films with the Sons of the Pioneers and wrote more than 1,000 gospel, country and western songs, including “Cool Water” in 1936.

Dorothy Apple of Coldwell Banker, Studio City, has the listing and represented both parties in the DeGeneres house sale.

Surgeon buys Bugsy’s last scene

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Joel Aronowitz and his wife, Fiona, have purchased the Beverly Hills home in which mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was murdered in June 1947.

The couple bought the five-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot Spanish-style home for about $4 million. The house, built in 1928, hadn’t changed hands since 1951, when it was purchased by a lawyer and her husband, a surgeon. When they bought the house, they didn’t know that it was where Siegel had been gunned down, the lawyer said in 1998, when the house was first listed. The asking price then was $3.5 million.

“Disclosure laws weren’t as stringent as they are now,” the lawyer said at the time. “We moved in with our baby and then found out about the murder. So we called the police and asked if we were safe. They laughed, saying, ‘That was four years ago. Bugsy is dead and gone.’ ”

Siegel had been relaxing in the living room of the home, reading the L.A. Times on a chintz sofa when he was hit by a barrage of bullets, fired through a nearby window. Siegel’s girlfriend, Virginia Hill, had been renting the house.

The Aronowitzes’ current home, a 4,200-square-foot Beverly Hills four-bedroom with a guesthouse, is listed at nearly $3.3 million. Heidi Tabib of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills, handled the sale and has the listing on the buyers’ current home.

Hidden Valley manse on market

Tony Cusenza, who co-founded the beauty-care company Sebastian International, has put his Hidden Valley home on the market at $11 million.

Cusenza, who has owned the Italian-style villa since he built it in 1999, wants to move closer to Santa Monica. The company, which Cusenza started with his brother and his brother’s wife, was sold to the Wella Corp. in the 1990s. The Cusenza family immigrated from Tunisia in 1954. They previously lived in Sicily.

The house, in the Westlake Village area, has seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The Tuscan villa sits on more than 20 acres of landscaped grounds. The gated estate has a four-bedroom, nearly 10,000-square-foot main house, a 3,000-square-foot pavilion with a kitchen capable of providing food for more than 300 guests, a 1,000-square-foot guesthouse, a green house, pool and staff quarters. The home has canyon and mountain views.

Ann M. Eysenring and Marissa Faith have the listing at Sotheby’s International Realty, Beverly Hills.

Radio man buys in Santa Clarita

Pop radio personality Jo Jo Wright, whose name was used for the JoJo Jam summer concert this weekend at Knott’s Berry Farm, has purchased a Santa Clarita home with a game room that he plans to turn into his personal video arcade.

Wright, whose nightly broadcasts on KIIS-FM (102.7) in Los Angeles target teenage girls, bought the 3,000-square-foot-home, with five bedrooms and a view of Magic Mountain fireworks, for $600,000.

Kathy Waterson of Re/Max, Santa Clarita, represented Wright in his purchase.

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