Where the heartthrob is at home
Although it doesn’t fit his bad-boy image, Irish heartthrob Colin Farrell appears to have taken a big step toward settling down. He bought a home in the Hollywood Hills for close to $4.3 million.
And now there is talk in the Irish press that the 30-year-old, Dublin-born actor may wed his girlfriend, actress Lake Bell, 27. They met on the set of the movie “Pride and Glory,” which was due to finish filming last week.
Previous owners of the 1920s villa Farrell bought took pride in refurbishing it with museum-quality attention to detail and finishes, including original Batchelder tile.
The living room has an antique, lead-glass window, a baronial fireplace, a beamed ceiling and tall French doors opening to a patio. The dining room can comfortably seat a dozen or more guests.
The kitchen has limestone counters and a sunny, east-facing breakfast room. There is a climate-controlled wine cellar with a tasting bar. An outdoor kitchen has a grill, sink and refrigerator, convenient for alfresco dining.
The 4,000-plus-square-foot house has four bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, a den with its own patio and panoramic city views.
Among the features outside are an infinity pool with hand-painted tiles and a view of downtown Los Angeles, a spa, a dining area with an oversized fireplace and lush landscaping with mature trees and a hidden garden.
Farrell plays Det. James “Sonny” Crockett, the role played by Don Johnson on TV, in the movie version of “Miami Vice,” scheduled for a U.S. release on July 28.
The actor also will costar with Ewan McGregor in Woody Allen’s next film. The movie will take Farrell away from his new home: The film is set in London.
Simple beach digs, by his standards
Downtown L.A. developer Geoff Palmer has purchased a newly built beachfront home in Malibu for $17 million.
The traditional-style home has three bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms. There is a living room/media room plus a master bedroom suite with his-and-hers bathrooms.
Solid bronze doors open onto Douglas fir floors and teak cabinetry and decks.
Palmer, 54, also owns a compound in Beverly Hills, which he purchased for $21 million in 2001. The French Regency-style estate, on 4.25 acres, includes a 16,400-square-foot main house and two guesthouses, one with a screening room and two bedrooms, the other with five bedrooms and an office.
The grounds have a guardhouse, tennis court and pool.
Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, had the Malibu listing, and Linda May of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, represented Palmer in buying the Malibu home, according to the Multiple Listing Service.
Fond memories of her ex linger here
Ann Turkel, a cover girl and actress who was married for eight years to actor Richard Harris, has put her Beverly Hills-area home on the market at just under $2.5 million.
Turkel is selling the three-bedroom, 4,100-square-foot house because it’s too big for her, she said, and she’s ready to move on after living there for 24 years.
Even so, the house holds many pleasant memories of Harris, she said. She divorced him in 1982, the same year she moved into the house, but they remained close until he died at age 72 in 2002, she said.
Her gated villa, built in 1960, was remodeled in 1991. The master-bedroom suite takes up most of the second floor. It has a sitting room with a fireplace and a loft. There are mountain, city and ocean views. The entertaining areas are downstairs.
Turkel, who plans to move to a condo on the Wilshire Corridor, is still working. She recently posed for a 12-page spread in Italian Vogue.
Nandu Hinds of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills, has the listing.
Sherman Oaks for her -- case closed
Deirdre Lovejoy, who plays assistant state’s attorney Rhonda Pearlman on the HBO police drama “The Wire,” has purchased a 1926 Tudor-style house in Sherman Oaks for about $800,000.
The restored home, which has two bedrooms and one bathroom in 1,200 square feet, has a rose garden at its entrance. There is also a lagoon-style pool with a waterfall and a Japanese Zen garden.
Lovejoy, who works on both coasts, is maintaining her New York apartment.
Gary Dean Ruebsamen and Traci Lynn Gordon of Prudential California Realty, Studio City, represented Lovejoy in buying her Sherman Oaks home, and Tessa Johnson, of the same company, had the listing.
Careful, don’t peek in the shower
Joseph Stefano, a horror-film screenwriter who is probably best known for writing the script for “Psycho” (1960), and his interior-designer wife, Marilyn, listed their Beverly Hills-area home last week at about $1.7 million.
It is the first time that the house, built in 1959, has come on the market in 46 years. Marilyn Stefano has updated the Italian-style villa, which has three bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, an office, a pool, courtyards and canyon views.
The home also has imported, hand-painted tile in the kitchen and bathrooms.
The screenwriter, a close friend of director Alfred Hitchcock, also wrote and produced the ‘60s TV series “The Outer Limits.”
Michelle Ficarra, Kyle Grasso and Joe Babajian, all of Prudential-John Aaroe, Beverly Hills, have the listing.
To see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions, go to latimes.com/hotproperty.
