nicole kidman

Day Five: The countdown is complete. Saturday, for reporters, the day before the Academy Awards, began at 9:00 a.m. at Santa Monica Beach. Public parking lot 5, reserved for the press, was a half-mile walk to the behemoth lunch tent pitched beside the beach. Wind off the ocean bit hard. Even towering palm trees looked cold as their branches whipped in gusts that littered Ocean Avenue with browning fronds.

The tent for the Film Independent Spirit Awards was a white plastic Quonset hut the size of an office complex. A crane huddled beside the white plastic structure that rippled in the wind. But apparently it was strong enough to hold the man standing on it three stories in the air, drawing a rope over the top.

Driving wind cut across the choppy surf, accumulating fine sand on the cement bike path. In our bones, we could feel the raw, salty proximity to the briny sea. One foreign female journalist in a short black sequined dress had goose bumps on her legs that resembled hives.
Waiting while staffed dried rain that had poured into the tent the night before, the press struggled for an hour in the bitter chill.

By 11:00 a.m.,the gray carpet arrivals corridor was flanked on one side by metal stanchions and a thousand journalists. Open at both ends it had flaps cut into the side facing the Pacific, creating a mild wind-tunnel.

"I love the weather," said director John Waters, above, a host at previous events, wearing Comme des Garcon and pants decorated with camouflage paint. "It's like a face lift." Actor Rainn Wilson, too, said he was relaxed "not to be hosting this time."

The Real Deal broke the news this week that Nicole Kidman has put her apartment in the ultra-minimalist, Richard Meier-designed 176 Perry Street building in New York City up for rent. Get out your wallets, Kidman is asking $45,000 per month. The actress bought the 12th floor apartment back in 2003 for around $8 million. She and husband Keith Urban bought a new designer penthouse complete with "sky garage" at 200 11th Avenue earlier this year.

The 176 Perry Street unit is listed with Halstead Property's Richard Orenstein. The full-floor unit has three bedrooms. The light-filled condo is 3,785 square feet and has a dramatic glassy living room that stretches the full width of the apartment.

As the Real Estalker mentioned, whoever bunks at 176 Perry Street will get some posh neighbors including Martha Stewart's daughter Alexis who has a triplex unit, Calvin Klein, who owns a penthouse duplex, hotelier Ian Schrager, celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Hugh Jackman who picked up Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy's triplex for $21 million in 2008.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Le Belvedere, a Los Angeles mansion that originally listed for $85 million has sold for $50 million.

--The Malibu, California home of the late philanthropist Nancy M. Daly, the ex-wife of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, has sold for more than $40 million.


From the NY Observer:
--Robert Burns, the found of the Regent International hotel group and his wife Janice have bought 2 East 70th Street for $13.5 million
--Yerim Sow, a Senagalese telecom mogul has sold his three-bedroom apartment for $19 million.
--Bernard Ruiz-Picasso has purchased an Astor Place penthouse at 439 Lafayette Street for $7.2 million.
--Neil and Nancy Fire Breslau have sold their penthouse at 111 Central Park North. The couple had bought the apartment for $4.975 million with the intent of flipping it but ended up selling it for $4.525 million.
--Cary Coltun, a senior vice president at megabuilders Bovis Lend Lease, has just bought a 2,000-square-foot condo duplex with his wife Michelle for $3.1 million.
--The $12 million purchaser of Bob and Courtney Novogratz's revamped Nolita townhouse at 5 Centre Market Place is Gregory Soros, son of of one of the world's richest men, George Soros.
--Maura Mandt, who has produced the Espy Awards shows for ESPN just bought a co-op at 50 East 10th Street for $1.15 million.
--Actor Mark Linn-Baker, who was on the show "Perfect Strangers" recently sold his three-bedroom apartment at 17 West 71st Street for $2.85 million.


From the NY Post:
--Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones bought a brick, center-hall Colonial mansion in Bedford, New York for $5.25 million.
-- "Real Housewives of New York" star Jill Zarin and her husband Bobby toured a $3.9 million four-bedroom condo at the Rushmore development on Riverside Boulevard. The Zarins are currently living at 401 E. 60th St. in a three-bedroom, 1,956-square-foot apartment which was on the market last year but didn't sell.

--Retail broker Robert Futterman of RKF just closed on a $6.6 million penthouse at the Hudson Lofts condo building at 345 W. 13th St.
--Katy Perry and Lady Gaga might be New York City neighbors in TriBeCa. Perry and fiancé Russell Brand recently bought a $2.7 million penthouse duplex on North Moore Street in TriBeCa, and Lady Gaga, who's been on an extensive downtown apartment search, just visited a $14.95 million TriBeCa penthouse at 33 Vestry St.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--A Bridgehampton estate that once belonged to John Weitz, a fashion designer and novelist, is on the market for $8.995 million. Weitz's sons are Chris Weitz, director of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" film, and his brother, Paul. Together, the sons directed and produced the "American Pie" comedies. The listing is here.
--A 12,000-square-foot Water Mill home owned and designed by famed artist and architect Setsuo Ito is up for auction. It is listed for $10.995 million but Ito could choose a buyer through sealed bids between now and Aug. 15 based not only on the amount offered but the conditions of the offer, such as closing time and financing. The listing is here.

From the NY Post:
--A new luxury building near the High Line will be home to Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. They have just closed on a $10 million penthouse at 200 11th Ave. Kidman and Urban's new neighbors include Domenico Dolce of Dolce & Gabbana, who bought two penthouses for $29 million. Their three-bedroom penthouse was listed for $12.5 million. Interior designer Jamie Drake has also just closed on a $5 million unit in the building.
--Screenwriter Allan Loeb who wrote "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," is buying a two-bedroom at 141 Fifth Ave. for close to $3.9 million. The penthouse duplex at 31 W. 21st St., which served as the home of Shia LaBeouf's character in the movie is on the market for $15 million.
--Lady Gaga is still checking out apartment rentals in the $20,000 to $25,000 range. Most recently she was spotted at 408 Greenwich St. in TriBeCa looking at a large one-bedroom $24,000-a-month rental.
--Edmund Carpenter, the retired CEO of the Barnes Group, a car and plane parts manufacturer, and his wife, Mary, just bought a co-op at 840 Park Ave. for $9.25 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Graham Nash has listed his Encino, California home for $1.6 million.
-- Kevin Nealon has picked up a new home in the Pacific Palisades for $3.45 million.
--Leeza Gibbons has picked up a home in Beverly Hills for $6.6 million.

From US Weekly:
--Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds have recently purchased a two-bedroom, three-bath house in the L.A. area. The home was recently listed around $2.8 million.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Rapper and actress Eve has dropped the price on her Hollywood Hills home to $2.050 million or it can be leased for $15,000 a month. It was listed at $2.295 million back in February. She bought the home in 2005 for $1.775 million. The listing is here.

--"Hawthorne" producer Preston Fischer and his wife, Marsha Lewis, have listed their Marina Del Rey penthouse at $899,000. The listing is here.
--Scarlett Johansson has sold her walled and gated Spanish villa in the Hollywood Hills for $4 million. She bought her home in the Outpost Estates area of Los Angeles for an even $7 million in 2007, she seems willing to take a deep loss on the home. The home was listed at $4.995 million.

--Singer Donna Summer has purchased a unit in the Carlyle Residences that was listed at $3.8 million.

Trends come and go in the world of perfumes, but the classic Chanel No. 5 is one of the few exceptions to the rule. For nearly a century, it has been synonymous with elegance and sophistication-making it an easy choice as a Luxist nominee in the best fragrance category.

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Bazookas. Bazooms. Village-feeders (thank you, Chris Rock). Whatever you call 'em, they've been spotted everywhere on the red carpet these last few months.

There was so much cleavage at the Golden Globes Sunday night, it's as if the invitation specified "globes" in the dress code. Mariah Carey (pictured above in a black Herve Leger number), Halle Berry, Christina Aguilera and Fergie formed a committee that surely played a role in TV ratings, particularly among the male demographic.

At the Grammy's Nominations concert back in December, things were no tamer. Katy Perry no doubt upstaged an act or two with ample bosoms spilling out of a white, embroidered gown. Before that, Ciara let her boobs do the talking at MOCA's 30th Anniversary Gala in L.A. while Demi Lovato got majorly chesty at the Peoples Choice Awards, 2010.

Even the fashion first crowd (those generally prefer style over exposure) -- Nicole Kidman, Chloe Sevigny and Kelly Rutherford -- have gotten busty on the party circuit. In Sevigny's case, boobs popped out of a librarian-like sweater set and sat atop a mid-length skirt at the Prada Book Launch Cocktail party in Beverly Hills a few months ago. Kidman was all about pushing them up at the Country Music Awards last November.

Couples Retreat, the new Vince Vaughn - Jon Favreau comedy that's big at the box office, stars a number of talented actors but they had to work hard not to be upstaged by the beautiful location - the St. Regis Bora Bora in the South Pacific. The lush resort, a favorite celebrity getaway since it opened in 2006 - Nicole Kidman and Keith honeymooned there while Eva Longoria and Tony Parker and others have enjoyed its tropical splendors - is offering an exclusive Couples Retreat package celebrating the film's opening and continuing through May 31, 2010. The package offers guests a four or five night stay in a Premiere Overwater Villa where Vaughn, Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristen Davis, Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell's characters stay in the movie, as well as other experiences seen on the big screen including couples yoga on the lush 44-acre property's pristine beaches, massages at its world class Spa Miri Miri, outrigger canoe lessons, a jet ski tour in the lagoon's pristine crystal waters, and dinner at Lagoon, the St. Regis Bora Bora's Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant.

[via JustLuxe]

Berg Properties Big Time Listings mentioned a couple of weeks ago that investor and record label owner Cody Leibel had put a home in the Beverly Hills Post Office Area up for sale for $16.5 million but now that it seems that it's getting some celebrity attention perhaps it's time to give this one a closer look. The Real Estalker reports that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban may have made an offer on the home although it appears that it hasn't gone to contract yet so a deal may not have been made. Leibel, who is still in his 20s, is also business partners with Sam Nazarian, who has a home listed for $18.95 million. Leibel paid $9.205 million for the property in 2007. It is on five acres and includes an infinity pool and a motor court for 20 cars. The home was originally built in 1959 but has been rehabbed and expanded into a modern home aimed at attracting a deep-pocketed buyer. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and an eat-in kitchen.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Actor Patrick Dempsey may have found a buyer for his four-bedroom Bel-Air home which was most recently on the market for $3.295 million.
--Los Angeles weather forecaster Kaj Goldberg has placed his three-bedroom house in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles, shown above, up for sale for $1.249 million. The property website is here.
--Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has placed his Washington DC condo on the market for $570,000. The listing is here.
A renovated, Cape Cod-style home in Beverly Hills owned by the late actor Darren McGavin until he sold it just before his death in early 2006 has come back on the market for $2.795 million. The listing is here.
--The home that was used in the Ferris Bueller movie as his best friend's home is on the market in Highland Park, Illinois for $2.3 million.


From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Actor Hank Azaria paid $10 million for a seven-bedroom home in Bel-Air. As the Real Estalker reported last month this home was last listed $13.975 million.
--Oakland Raiders quarterback Jeff Garcia and his Playboy model wife, Carmella, have sold their Manhattan Beach home for $2.5 million.
Former NFL linebacker Mike Croel and his wife, Cassaundra, have sold their Sunset Strip-area home for $1.912 million.
--Actor Jim Belushi has leased out a Brentwood house he owns for $11,500 a month.
--L.A. Kings player Tom Preissing has put his Manhattan Beach home on the market. We checked this one out on Saturday.
--Shannen Doherty has listed her Malibu mansion for $4 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--James Marden, whose father, Bernard, was one of Berni Madoff's largest victims, has sold his Wainscott home at 42 Beach Lane. It is in contract for around $11.2 million.
--Another Madoff victim, David Silver, is also selling his oceanfront beach house, which is in contract for around $6.9 million but was originally listed at $14 million.
--Marden's ex-wife, Iris, a broker at Stribling, is selling her three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath TriBeCa penthouse at 7 Hubert St. for $12.5 million. The listing is here.
--Hamptons developer Joe Farrell has bought property for the first time in 18 months picking up a couple acres in Bridgehampton and an acre in Southampton Village. He's planning to build two "small" houses. For him that means a house priced at just under $5 million and one for around $3 million.
--Seth Meyers looked at a one-bedroom $1.195 million condo at 380 W. 12th St. The listing is here.

From Newsday's Real LI:
--A piece of land just under nine acres in Amagansett has gone on the market for the steep price of $200 million.

From Cityfile's Buyers & Sellers:
--via the NY Post, Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has a NYC apartment but now he has a second home in Eldred, New York. His 10 acres of land also includes a barn with a recording studio.
--via the Real Deal, a full-floor apartment at the former Stanhope Hotel sold for $17 million. It was originally listed at $31 million.
--Furniture designer Stuart Parr has sold his condo at 25 Fifth Avenue for $1.35 million.
via Page Six, poker champ Vadim Trincher has picked up a condo at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue for $5 million which is $1 million less than the asking price.
Hedge fund manager/art collector Adam Sender and his wife Lenore have sold their fourth-floor apartment at 109 Greene Street for $3.695 million.
--Padma Lakshmi has transferred ownership of a full-floor loft at 211 East 2nd Street to a trust called "The Delicious Trust" for $0. Lakshmi purchased the loft in early 2008 for $1.65 million.
--JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's Chicago home is now listed for $10.5 million, $3 million less than it was back in 2007.

From the Real Estalker:
--Nicole Kidman has sold off her Sydney, Australia home in Darling Point for $13,200,000 (AUS) and picked up a duplex penthouse for around $6,000,000 (AUS).
--Actor/singer Jesse McCartney has put his two bedroom home in the Hollywood Hills on the market for $1.199 million. The listing is here.
--David Niven Jr. has put his home on Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles on the market for $5.75 million. The listing is here.
Kirsten Dunst has listed her home for $1.7 million.

Way back in 2004 Nicole Kidman bought herself a yacht for Christmas, picking up the Sunseeker 74 named Hokulani for $4.5 million. Times have changed for Kidman, who has left her boat in a marina in Sydney, Australia. The Independent reports that locals are angry because when Kidman sold her harborfront apartment she left her yacht still moored in the marina reserved for residents. She still owns a waterside mansion elsewhere in the Sydney area. A spokesman said that the boat was left in the marina because she was planning to pick up another apartment in the area. That didn't happen and he spokesman says the yacht will be moved. Some are concerned that Kidman has gotten special treatment because she is a celebrity. Kidman is reportedly in Nashville licking her wounds after the failure of her latest movie "Australia" but she should consider flying to Sydney and picking up the boat. After all, a summer cruise on a five cabin luxury yacht can turn almost any frown upside down.

[via Huffington Post]

Last year Louis Vuitton made the luggage for "The Darjeeling Limited," this year its Prada that gets the big movie tie-in with their luggage for the film "Australia" Prada created the comprehensive luggage that Nicole Kidman totes (or rather, has toted for by a team of porters) in the Baz Luhrmann epic. The luggage was made "a unique goatskin material" and was crafted in the same ways that the Mario Prada, the founder of the company, used almost a century ago, pulling the leather over wooden frames and gluing and stitching by hand. The luggage includes trunks, suitcases, hat-boxes, vanity cases and even a picnic set. A selection of traditional suitcases and vanity cases virtually identical to the set made for 'Australia', is part of Prada's Pergamena luggage collection.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Florida car dealer, Terry Taylor has listed his Palm Beach home, shown above, at $72.5 million which is almost three times what he paid in 2003. The main house was built circa 1924 and designed by veteran Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner. It has nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a movie theater with a ticket window and concession stand, an exercise room, a wine cellar, pool, large pool house and two three-car garages, each with a second-floor guest apartment. The listing is here.
--Joseph Simmons, better known a Rev. Run, has relisted his suburban New Jersey house for $5.2 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--William Chadwick has put his home in the pricey Carbon Beach area of Malibu on the market for $65 million. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane picked up a home in Beverly Hills that wasn't listed for $13.5 million.
Television producer Jay Tarses has sold a home he built in 1987 in Pacific Palisades for $2.995 million. The home was first listed in January for $3.489 million.
--Singer Doug "SA" Martinez of the band 311 has listed his funky Spanish colonial in Los Feliz. It's our estate of the day later today.
--Philippe Naouri -- a.k.a. the Vintage Denim King has put his Hollywood Hills contemporay on the market for $3.185 million. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk has picked up a home in Calabasas that was listed at $5.89 million. Britney Spears has also been said to be looking at homes in the same area of Calabasas.
--Hugh Laurie has paid $3.84 million for an English Country style residence located in the Outpost Estates section of the Hollywood Hills from music manager Pat Magnarella who bought the home in 2001 for $2 million.
--Actor Justin Long has picked up a two-bedroom bachelor pad in the Blue building on Norfolk Street in New York for $2.425 million.
--Businessman Peter Morton has put a seven bedroom home on the market in Beverly Hills for $22.5 million. The listing is here and notes that the home has such a view that the property will be shown only on a clear day.
--Ambleside, the Indian Hill, Ohio residence of late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott has hit the market for $5.4 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Katie Holmes has been spotted duplex penthouse at Trump park Avenue with a $200,000-a-month price tag.
--A new listing in the famed Dakota building is hitting the market with a $7.5 million asking price.
--Alex Rodriguez, aka A-Rod, was seen a few weeks ago checking out units at 15 Central Park West just two blocks from where Madonna lives. He's been checking out the four-bedroom duplex that Lindsay Rosenwald has put unofficially on the market for $90 million through Brown Harris Stevens.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Nicole Kidman has purchased record producer and songwriter Ron Fair's house in Beverly Hills, Calif. for an undisclosed price after it had been listed for $4.795 million.
--Los Angeles anchorman Harold Greene and his wife, Charlene have put their Toluca Lake home on the market for $2.299 million. The listing is here.
--Basketball star Elton Brand has placed his three-bedroom, Hollywood Hills home on the market for $4,998,500, two years after he first had listed the house at close to $5 million. The listing is here.



From Golf Magazine:
--Golfer Phil Mickelson's house, built on 4.55 acres in Rancho Sante Fe, California is on the market for $10,750,000 - $12,225,876. The listing is here.

From News Australia:
--Russell Crowe is renting a home for around £20,000 in London's Mayfair district while he films a movie in England.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Real-estate developer Rodney Propp, who was reported as the buyer of "Old Trees" estate in Southampton listed at $48 million, didn't take possession of the property. He switched his his executed sales contract to hedge-fund manager John Paulson for approximately $39 million. According to the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties, John Paulson has put his Southampton home on the market for $19.5 million. The listing for the home which has a year-round pool is here.
--Leonardo DiCaprio who last year picked up a penthouse apartment at the Hudson Blue condominium project in the West Village for just under $3 million is now reported to be buying a pad in an environmentally friendly building, The Riverhouse in Battery Park City. Hudson Blue developer Michael Yanko, the CEO of Horizen Global, will be selling the entire 12-story, 24-foot-wide building in one fell swoop. He says he has a buyer but has listed the building, shown above, for $21 million with Sotheby's as a back-up.
--Gisele Bundchen has just pulled her West Village penthouse apartment off the market. She isted the two-bedroom condo in September for $10.9 million and eventually dropped the price to $7.9 million but still found no takers.
--It looks like the co-op board members at the River House apartment building gave the thumbs down for Elyse Kroll as buyer for Marty Richard's splendid duplex residence. The "in contract" banner on the Brown Harris Stevens Web site has been replaced with the words "new listing." The old price remains, it is listed at $22.7 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--A Tribeca home has become the most expensive listing in the neighborhood at $35 million. The house at 2 North Moore Street is pirced at $29,425,000 more than mortgage executive Steve Schnall and wife Sherri paid for the property just three years ago.The Schnalls built a new six-story building on the site, and connected it with a former bar, a two-story landmark building. The listing is here.
--Slim-Fast founder and philanthropist S. Daniel Abraham's family paid $13.3 million for two apartments at the East 65th Street condo tower Bristol Plaza (one came in April 2005, the other in April 2006), and sold them both off for just $14 million last month. Not much of an investment. The Abrahams' listing with Corcoran had been for $17.5 million.
-- Robert and Cortney Novogratz buy rundown houses and renovate them. Their latest listing, their house at 5 Centre Market Place, which they purchased in June 2004 for $1,512,000, and have now listed for $18 million. 5 Centre, a former gun shop, is a contemporary beauty with one cool feature, an outdoor basketball court encased in a steel mesh dome built in Switzerland. The listing is here.
Bono and his wife Ali Hewson have sold their Central Park West apartment at the El Dorado for $4.9 million. He first bought the place for $3.4 million, but left it five years ago for Steve Jobs' old apartment at the San Remo down the block.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Italian businessman Luigi Zunino, who is in contract to buy an apartment at New York's Plaza condominium, is already trying to find someone to pay $100 million for it.
--Two months after listing it at $16.8 million, the owner of Meryl Streep's former New York City town house has dropped the price to $13.85 million. This makes more sense considering that the investor bought it last fall for $12.85 million. The listing is here.
--The Key Largo, Fla., home of the General Electric aviation executive Brian Rowe, who died in February at age 75, is on the market for $18.9 million. The listing is here.
--Disgraced art dealer Lawrence Salander is in negotiations to list his Millbrook, N.Y., second home for $6.2 million. Salander, once one of New York's most prestigious art-world figures, is now said to owe tens of millions of dollars for failing to pay clients for works he sold on consignment and other improprieties. He filed Chapter 11 in November. He has listed his six-story townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side for $25 million. Check out the listing here.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--It turns out that last week's report of Nicole Kidman buying in Brentwood was not true. She is still house hunting in Los Angeles.
--Musician, songwriter and producer Dr. Luke has paid $4,690,000 for a Spanish-style house in the Hollywood Hills.
--Country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams has paid $1,512,500 for a home in the Studio City area.
--Country singer Kenny Chesney has paid $7,400,000 for house in Malibu back in February and just two days after it was reported by Big Time Listings, it was back on the market. It is listed at $7.95 million.
--Actress Jane Sibbett has cut the asking price of her 16.96-acre ranch in Los Angeles County's unincorporated Topanga area from $7 million to $5.2 million. It's our estate of the day later today.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
A fond farewell and best wishes to Ruth Ryon, the grand dame of Los Angeles real estate gossip who is retiring from the LA Times. She is the woman who made all this real estate obsession part of our daily life, we wish her many grand adventures and good luck on writing her book. A warm hello to Ann Brenoff who is taking over and who has already started working bringing in the L.A. real estate gossip all week long.
-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, have bought a 25-acre tract of land in the Rancho Monte Alegre project in Santa Barbara County for around $4.7 million.
--Celebrity hair stylist Ken Paves has purchased a home in Beverly Hills for nearly $2 million.
--Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and his wife Marie have purchased a two-bedroom condo in Century City. Christopher's charming farmhouse-style home in the Beverly Hills Post Office area is listed at $3,259,000. Check out the virtual tour here.
--Angelina Jolie's body double, Kate Clarke, has put her adorable two-bedroom bungalow in Silver Lake on the market for $724,000. The property website is here.
--Frankie Muniz joins the celebrity crowd at the turquoise Art Deco Eastern Columbia building. He has reserved a two-bedroom, 2,900-square-foot loft at close to $2.9 million. Other celeb buyers in the building include Johnny Depp and John Stamos.
--The listings for the Palm Springs homes of author Sidney Sheldon, one at $6.45 million, one at $3.995 million and one at $1.45 million now have a smattering of pictures. Check them out at the site of one of the three listing agents, Brook Astley, here.



From the Real Estalker:
--Matthew Perry has picked up a gorgeous three-bedroom contemporary-style house in the Hollywood Hills that had been on the market for $4,500,000.
--Boston Red Sox player Curt Schilling has listed his Medfield, Massachusetts home for $8 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--As was first reported by Bob at Big Time Listings, Howard Stern has paid $15.1 million for the apartment directly below his West Side condo in order to create a massive over 8,400-square-foot penthouse. Stern's buy is a combination of three separate units. He first bought in the building in 1998 when he combined two penthouse apartments.
--Baseball player Alex Rodriguez has been spotted checking out a home at the San Remo co-op. The five-bedroom home is listed at $6.975 million, a little mdoest by A-Rod standards.
--Rachael Ray has finally closed on her Southampton home. The home on 6.2 acres had a list price of $2.9 million.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Model Isabeli Fontana just spent $3.37 million on a three-bedroom apartment in the Trump Place development on Riverside Boulevard. She already has a penthouse in a Trump condo a few doors down. Fontana, who currently fronts the H&M lingerie campaign, already has two children so perhaps she needs the extra room.
--Model Jessica Stam, who is just 21, has already bought her third New York apartment .She first sold a co-op on East 16th Street, for $510,000 in August 2004 and bought an $800,000 condo four blocks down. She sold that place for $935,000 and now has paid $1.4 million for a loft at the Petersfield on Fourth Avenue.
--DJ AM has paid $1.995 million for a 1,147-square-foot apartment at One Kenmare Square, André Balazs'condo on Lafayette Street.
--Ex-Senator George Mitchell, who recently released a report on baseball's steroids problem, has sold his 3,150-square-foot, two-unit apartment at the posh Grand Millennium condo at 1965 Broadway which was listed for $6.65 million.
--Author and motivational speaker Dr. Joy Browne has sold her four-room duplex penthouse for $3.29 million to the art publishers Martin Bondell and Juliette Galant.

Also from the Observer:
--Suze Orman and her partner Kathy Travis paid $3,610,886 and 34 cents in cash for a condo at the Plaza in New York.
--Bob Costas and his wife Jill Sutton have picked up an $11 million condo on Central Park West.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--The official price of Simpson's voice Dan Castellaneta's house sale is $3,305,000.
--A look at the real estate dealings of currently jailed actor/celebrated bad boy Keifer Sutherland. As many know he owns a large warehouse building in Silverlake with the downstairs as a recording studio and living quarters upstairs. He also owns two other L.A. area homes.
--Jack Black has sold a 2,694-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Beachwood Canyon area for $1.462 million.
--via the Wall Street Journal, Burt Reynolds has dropped the asking price of his waterfront mansion in Hobe Sound, Fla. from $12,900,000 to $10,500,000. The listing is here.
--Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have sold their four-bedroom house in Nashville for $2.36 million and picked up 36 acres in Franklin, TN for $2.45 million.
--The records have cleared on a Beverly Hills home once owned by pianist and composer Burt Bacharach. It was listed for $3,495,000 and sold on August 31 for $2,990,000.
--A home in Studio City that was once owned by actress Jane Leeves has sold for an undisclosed price after having been on the market for $2,995,000.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
A Southampton, N.Y., estate formerly owned by Martin "Marty" Richards, who produced the Oscar-winning 2002 film "Chicago" and many Broadway plays, has just gone on the market for $65 million. It is our estate of the day, later today.
--Thomas Theobald, a former chairman of Continental Bank and his wife, writer, Gigi Mahon have listed their Greenwich, Conn., mansion for $17.9 million. We covered the home as an estate of the day back in November.
--A Houston mansion originally owned by Joanne King Herring the socialite played by Julia Roberts in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" has gone on the market for $3.5 million, shown above. Ms. Herring built the home in 1954. The exceedingly lavish home includes a ballroom with wood paneling decorated with gilded bronze cherubs, violins and lyres. The listing is here.

From the Real Estalker:
--Phil Romano, the restaurant owner responsible for Fuddruckers and Romano's Macaroni Grill has put his Dallas, Texas home on the market for $17.5 million. Wow, the wine cellar is like a retail store. Check it out at the listing here.
--As the Real Estalker predicted, Ellen DeGeneres who recently bought Max Mutchnick's freshly built Bev Hills mansion for $29 million, has also picked up the Cabrillo Drive property across the street.
--The Real Estalker Mama breaks down just how many celebs are moving into the much vaunted 15 Central Park West building in New York.
--Linda Bollea (also known as Linda Hogan, wife of Hulk Hogan) was recently renting a home in Little Holmby Hills for a rumored $18,000 per month.

From the AP:
An estate that belonged to late society photographer Lord Lichfield has been sold for more than £34 million.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--Johnny Depp has yet to move in to the penthouse he bought in the turquoise Art Deco Eastern Columbia Building in downtown L.A. All but half a dozen lofts on the penthouse level have been sold and prices run from the high $600,000 range to $2.2 million. Other buyers include comedian Ant and Slade Smiley, who was on the TV show "The Real Housewives of Orange County."
--Alfred Villalobos, a former deputy mayor to Mayor Richard Riordan, has listed his compound in a Woodland Hills gated community at $3.6 million. The listing is here.
--A portion of the property in West Hollywood that once belong to Irvin Willat, a silent-film director, is expected to be on the market soon for around $30 million.

It's not easy to be successful in Hollywood as an actress these days -- the competition is pretty fierce. Making it big is defined in a few different ways, from winning the best awards to getting the best parts to making the biggest money. And although careers go up and down on a dime and everything can change overnight, somebody has to be making the biggest money of them all. That somebody right now? Reese Witherspoon.

She's doing well for herself, earning between $15 and $20 million per movie -- despite her latest work "Rendition" not doing all that well in theaters. And she's in good company, too, with actresses like Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts, and Jody Foster joining her in the ranks of the top 10 highest paid actresses.