Colorful former home of animator Brad Case is listed

David W. Higgins, the president of production at Sobini Films, has listed his Midcentury home in Sherman Oaks at $949,000.

He bought the 1956 Edward Fickett-designed house nine years ago from the original owner, the late animator and director Brad Case.

“It was in a state of complete disrepair but still made a strong impact — the wide-open spaces, the walls of glass, but most especially the color palette,” Higgins said of the 1,919-square-foot residence. Case had worked with Fickett to pick out the bold colors.

In restoring the home, Higgins made small changes, such as adding bamboo floors, updating the bathrooms and putting a patterned linoleum floor in the kitchen. But he kept the original colors, including the original turquoise O’Keefe & Merritt stove and cooktop.

“We even purchased the Cases’ Midcentury living room furniture and had it reupholstered in colors that matched the original fabric,” he said. “However, we did make one change — the bright yellow beams had been a dark gray-blue, which we felt was too heavy a color.”

Having inspired Case’s work in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house had a similar effect on Higgins, who used it as the basis for his film “Hard Candy” (2005). Higgins said he and the writer “blocked out every scene in the home, with the idea being that, in a worst-case scenario, we would shoot the film in our home.” Ultimately, the film was shot on a soundstage.

Higgins is the producer and writer of “Burning Bright” (2010) and was co-producer of “Momma’s House” (2000) and “Big Momma’s House 2” (2006).

Case, who died in 2006 at age 93, worked as an animator and sequence director in films and TV shows stretching from “Pinocchio” (1940) to an episode of “The Tick” (1994) and including “Jetsons: The Movie” (1990).

Barry Dantagnan of Coldwell Banker, Sherman Oaks, is the listing agent.

lauren.beale@latimes.com