He Has Booked a Date in Vegas

Actor Tony Curtis and his wife, Jill, are buying a vacation home on the outskirts of Las Vegas that is under construction and expected to be completed in June.

“Las Vegas is a very interesting and engaging city, and we’ll be 10 minutes from many excellent restaurants and shows,” said the actor, 74. He and his wife, 29, were married there in November 1998.

Their retreat is being built at Del Webb’s Anthem Country Club in Henderson. “We need change in life. We shouldn’t get into a rut,” the actor said. He has no intention, however, of giving up his longtime home in Bel-Air.

Curtis will be honored March 16 to 26 by the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “They’re going to show 16 of my films,” he said.

He will be there for some of the post-screening discussions and screening introductions, including the one for “Some Like It Hot” (1959), which will be shown March 18 at 8 p.m.

Curtis co-starred in the Billy Wilder comedy with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. Some of Curtis’ portraits of Monroe have fetched considerable sums.

Curtis, a recognized artist as well as an actor, recently had an exhibition of his acrylics and watercolors at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and he plans to participate in an art show in Florida in mid-February.

“I’m a painter,” he said, “and our new home will have an art studio.”

But the 4,000-square-foot house will have only a couple of bedrooms, “because Jillie and I want to keep things simple. We don’t plan to have any guests.”

He expects the finished house to cost him about $1 million.

“It’s being built on a beautiful piece of land and will have an infinity pool,” he said. His house will be among about 15 in a special enclave within a gated community, which has a clubhouse with an indoor pool.

Freddie DeMann, Madonna’s former manager and co-founding partner with her of Maverick Records, and his wife, Candy, have put their Bel-Air home on the market at $23 million. He left Maverick last year.

The couple spent three years refurbishing the 20,000-square-foot house, built in 1958. The renovation was estimated to have cost $500 a square foot.

Now the Art Deco-style home, on about three acres, has a main house with four bedrooms and maid’s quarters, plus a guest house. Among the bedrooms is a 2,000-square-foot master suite.

The home also has a state-of-the-art projection room, climate-controlled wine cellar, hair salon, gym, sauna, pool, spa and tennis court. The gated home is on a promontory with city to ocean views.

The former record company executive, 59, and his wife have owned the property for about six years. Now that they’ve completed the renovation, they want to move to smaller quarters.

After differences with Madonna, DeMann left Maverick Records last year with a hefty settlement, but he has been expected to reemerge with a number of new, professional activities.

June Scott has the listing on the DeManns’ home at June Scott Estates, a Coldwell Banker Previews company, Beverly Hills North office.

Psychologist-author Irene Kassorla and her mathematician-computer scientist husband, Norman Freidmann, have purchased a Beverly Hills home for slightly less than $5 million.

The couple sold their Holmby Hills home in July to Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-producer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and his wife and business partner, Tracey Edmonds, for nearly $13 million.

The psychologist, a former KABC-TV personality who counseled Monica Lewinsky from 1992 through 1997, and her husband purchased an 8,000-square-foot-plus home with three bedrooms, maid’s quarters and a guest house.

The home was built in the 1950s but was remodeled recently by Beverly Hills Realtor Stan Herman, who represented himself in the sale.

The buyers were represented by their daughter, Ronnie, and Raymond Bekeris, both of John Bruce Nelson & Associates.

Robert Nesen, ambassador to Australia during the Reagan administration and assistant secretary of the Navy under Richard Nixon, has put his 60-acre-plus Hidden Valley ranch on the market at just under $7 million.

Nesen owned and operated a successful Cadillac-Olds dealership in Thousand Oaks for 50 years until two years ago, when he retired.

He has owned the ranch since 1978. In 1995, he remodeled the ranch house to resemble the U.S. embassy in Australia’s capital, Canberra.

The 9,000-square-foot Hidden Valley house has two master suites, four secondary bedrooms, a library, a game room and an indoor pool. The ranch also has a guest cottage, horse facilities and barns, a croquet court, a caretaker’s quarters and many oak trees.

Called Kentwood, the home has a classic look with its red-brick exterior, Doric columns and portico.

Nesen is buying a smaller home in the high-end West San Fernando Valley residential community of Lake Sherwood, developed by his friend, David Murdock. Nesen’s property backs up to Sherwood Country Club.

Bill Carter, Rob Warner and Joan Young of Young Estates in Westlake Village have the listing.

Milt Weiss, executive producer for regional news at Fox Sports and formerly a senior producer for ABC’s nightly news with Peter Jennings, has moved to Los Angeles from the East Coast and purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills.

He and his artist wife, Carol, bought a contemporary-style home with city views for about $800,000. The 2,100-square-foot house was built in 1956.

It was owned by Ron Thomas of DBL, Sunset Strip. He represented himself in the sale.

Chris Laib and Jan Barnow of Prudential-John Aaroe & Associates, Pacific Design Center office, represented the Weisses, who have a son, Dillon, a student at USC’s film school.

Did you miss Thursday’s Hot Property column in Southern California Living? Want to see previous columns on celebrity real estate transactions? Visit http://161.35.110.226/hotproperty on the Internet.