Hollywood Hills Loses a Character

Gary Oldman--who has played such characters on film as Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald and Ludwig van Beethoven--has sold his Hollywood Hills home for about $2 million.

The British actor is said to be renting in the Los Angeles area. His wife, Donya Florentino, filed for divorce last year.

The couple, married in February 1997, had owned the home for four or five years. They spent three years refurbishing it. Built in 1930, the three-story Mediterranean-style house has four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms in slightly more than 4,000 square feet.

The house also has park-like grounds with a pool, a two-story entry, a living room with a fireplace and beamed ceilings, a study with a fireplace, a breakfast area, a family room and a hobby room.

The asking price was just under $2.3 million. The buyer was described as a businessman.

Oldman, 43, was previously married to actress Uma Thurman.

He co-starred in such movies as “Hannibal” (2001), “The Contender” (2000), “Air Force One” (1997), The Scarlet Letter” (1995), “Immortal Beloved” (1994), “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992), “JFK” (1991) and “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” (1990). The movie “Sin,” starring Oldman and Ving Rhames, is not yet scheduled for release.

Brett Lawyer of Nourmand & Associates, Beverly Hills, had the listing, and Aileen Comora of Sotheby’s, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer, sources said.

Ron Popeil, who has pitched such inventions on TV as the smokeless ashtray and GLH (Great Looking Hair) spray-on compound designed to hide baldness, has purchased a Beverly Hills-area home in the $7-million range.

Known as “king of the infomercial,” Popeil, now in his mid-60s, made a fortune in the 1960s promoting the Veg-O-Matic food chopper. More recently, he has been promoting the Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ ovens.

He and his wife, Robin, 34, a former swimsuit model, were attracted to the Beverly Hills-area home in part by its huge eat-in kitchen. Popeil is most at home in his kitchen, where he likes to work on improving his products. He has created many but not all of the items that he has marketed.

The contemporary-style villa also has eight bedrooms, a screening room and a gym in slightly more than 14,000 square feet.

Peter Sperling, son of the founder of the Arizona-based University of Phoenix, and his wife, Stephanie, have purchased a home adjacent to their 12-acre Montecito estate for $25 million in cash, local real estate sources said.

The purchase, less than a mile from the home Oprah Winfrey bought last year for $54 million, is one of the largest for a private residence in Montecito.

The home that the Sperlings bought is on 10.5 acres. Built in 1916 and recently renovated, the Mission Revival-style home, designed by Francis T. Underhill, is reached by way of a long, tree-lined drive, which ends at a large motorcourt surrounded by stone walls and a set of carved Moorish doors.

The home also has a 60-foot entrance hall, a family-media room, a full basement with wine and grocery cellars; a walk-in vault; a staff suite; five upstairs bedrooms, including a master suite with an ocean view; a guest house; a pool; and garage space for more than nine cars.

The Sperlings’ adjacent home was purchased in 1997 from actress Geena Davis and her ex-husband, director Renny Harlin, for about $9.5 million. That property has a 9,000-square-foot main residence, a guest house, a staff cottage, a tennis court and a pool.

Peter Sperling, 41, also purchased a three-acre oceanfront site in Montecito for $17 million a year ago. The site has a guest house but no main residence. The purchase included house plans.

Sperling’s father, John, created the University of Phoenix as a for-profit school open only to jobholders age 23 and older. It won accreditation in 1981 and by 1997, its enrollment topped that of New York University.

Paulo Benedeti, who stars as an award-winning Latino fashion designer in the CBS daytime drama “The Bold and the Beautiful,” has become a first-time home buyer with his purchase of a Sherman Oaks home for about $500,000.

The house, on a knoll in the hills, has two bedrooms and a convertible den in 1,600-plus square feet. Built in 1950 and situated behind gates and walls, the house also has a detached studio-gym-office and valley views.

Before he joined the cast of “The Bold and the Beautiful” in May, Benedeti, who is in his mid-20s, appeared on the New York-based CBS soap “Guiding Light.”

Eric Lieberman of Prudential John Aaroe & Associates, Studio City, had the listing; Michael Fried of Coldwell Banker-Studio City represented Benedeti.

The West Los Angeles home of the late Maude Chasen, who helped run the popular Beverly Hills restaurant Chasen’s for half a century, has been listed at $1.65 million.

The three-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot condominium has views from the Hollywood Hills to Catalina. The unit is in the Blair House, a 29-story high-rise built in 1989. The complex has a pool and a tennis court.

The unit, which has two large patios, also may be purchased furnished.

Chasen died in December at age 97. Her husband, vaudevillian-comic Dave Chasen, died in 1973.

He opened his restaurant, a gathering place for the entertainment industry, in 1936. His wife took an active part in running it after they were married in 1942.

Chasen’s, where Ronald Reagan proposed to Nancy and where Jimmy Stewart held his bachelor party, closed in 1995. The restaurant then licensed its name to another group, which opened a new Chasen’s at a different location.

Sally Brant, estates director of Coldwell Banker in the Brentwood East office, has the listing.

Christopher Misiano, a director and producer on the series “ER” and “The West Wing,” has purchased a Los Feliz home that had been listed at just under $1.5 million.

It was the first time that the house had come on the market since it was built in 1921.

The house has six bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms in about 5,000 square feet. The home has views of downtown Los Angeles.

Misiano, who lived in New York until he started directing and producing “The West Wing” and “ER,” was drawn to the Los Feliz house by its comfortable feeling. It reminded him of a big Upper West Side apartment.

Misiano previously directed “Law & Order,” “Third Watch,” “Now and Again,” “Nash Bridges” and “Brooklyn South.”

Susan Chadney, associate manager and estates director of Prudential California Realty, a John Aaroe division in Hancock Park, represented Misiano in his home purchase.

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