‘Dreamgirls’ and now a dream house

Jamie Foxx, the Oscar-winning star of “Ray,” is fond of recalling what Ray Charles once told him: “If you feel it, then you know it’s right.”

So, given Foxx’s business acumen, it’s safe to assume that his $10.5-million purchase of a 17,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa in the Thousand Oaks community of Hidden Valley felt “right.”

The house, built in 1995, sits on 40 acres. It has 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a library, family and game rooms, a full gym and a master-bedroom suite with a sitting room, an atrium, a sauna and a balcony.

The estate also has an Olympic-size pool, a spa, a cabana studio, a north-south tennis court, playing fields and two guesthouses.

Foxx, 39, who won a best-actor Oscar for “Ray,” appears in “Dreamgirls” and has sold more than 2 million copies of his album “Unpredictable.”

He moved to California from Texas around 1990 to work on his music career and, as a stand-up comic, changed his name from Eric Morlon Bishop to Jamie Foxx in homage to actor Redd Foxx.

His album “Peep This” was released in 1994, but he found earlier success in TV comedy, first with “In Living Color” (1991-94) and then with “The Jamie Foxx Show” (1996-2001). By the late ‘90s, Foxx’s career on the big screen had taken off.

Alley’s new find is Los Feliz-adjacent

Actress Kirstie Alley, who donated goods last week to tornado victims in her native state of Kansas, has bought a house in east Hollywood, south of Los Feliz, for about $749,000.

The Jenny Craig spokeswoman, who lost 75 pounds on the weight-loss program, found out what other home buyers are discovering about the neighborhood. Housing can be less expensive there than in the bordering communities of Los Feliz, Hollywood and Silver Lake.

Alley plans to use the house as an office and perhaps as living quarters for her assistants, said Frank Barbano, who had the listing and represented her in buying through Keller Williams Realty, Marina/L.A. office.

The actress already has a residence a mile away from the house that she just bought, as well as homes in Oregon and Kansas. She likes the proximity of her newly acquired house to shops, Barbano said, as well as its backyard fruit trees and storybook Tudor look.

Alley has designed the interiors of a number of her homes. Barbano said she was drawn to her new purchase by its vintage claw-foot bathtubs, the Cape Cod-style bathrooms, the cathedral ceiling and a balcony with city views.

Alley, also a producer and writer, plays a 50-ish screenwriter who can’t find work in the TV movie “Write & Wrong,” which will kick off Lifetime’s Sunday summer lineup when it airs June 3. The actress, 56, got her break in the ‘80s on NBC’s “Cheers.” She later starred in the series “Veronica’s Closet” and “Fat Actress.”

Wunnerful move for Welk’s kin

Emmy-winning KCAL-TV Channel 9 helicopter pilot and reporter Larry Welk III, the grandson of bandleader Lawrence Welk, has found out that he is more of a city slicker than he thought.

After owning a Sun Valley equestrian estate on 4 acres for two years, Welk has put the property on the market at close to $2.5 million.

Welk, 37, and his wife, Tracey, plan to move their family of five to La Canada Flintridge, where they have bought a house for $2.7 million. It has seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, plus views of the Angeles National Forest.

The gated equestrian estate has a country farmhouse; a two-story guesthouse; a horse track, barn and tack room; a pool, an office; RV and boat parking as well as garage space for six cars; a pool house with a bedroom, and an orchard.

Welk has been with KCAL for 12 years. In 1998, he formed Angel City Air, which leases helicopters to news stations and production companies.

Nancy Reggiani of Re/Max Tri-City in La Canada has the listing.

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ruth.ryon@latimes.com

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