This Beverly Hills house, used for a famous sequence in the film The Godfather, was relisted this spring with a heavy price cut. The Hearst House dates to 1926, and has at this point been on and off the market for at least seven years between owners.
The property appeared on the market eight years ago as a $600K/month rental. Seven years ago it was offered for sale with an asking price of $135 million; it reappeared in 2018 at the same figure. Price cuts conducted since then have whittled the property down to eight figures; in April of 2021, it is asking $89.75 million.
The house was used early in the first film as the lavish home of fictional film producer Jack Woltz. Was the character based on Jack Warner, you ask? Possibly. Tales of Harry Cohn’s stormy shifts of mood may also be suggestive. Neither Warner nor Cohn owned an Arabian named Khartoum, though, and to our knowledge neither awakened in the dead of night with a severe case of bed head.
A reel-to-real transition reveals a few true facts and genuine celebrity associations. Noted publisher W.R. Hearst wasn’t the only owner; Marion Davies lived here, too. And Jack and Jackie spent their honeymoon here. Amenities in the home make for a long list; highlights include a two-story library and a nightclub with an art deco design theme.
The grounds extend to 3.5 acres, with a suitably long, meandering drive winding through the sophisticated landscaping and mature plantings before arriving at the 9-bed, 15-bath home. The driveway is, in fact, the longest in Beverly Hills, according to the listing, which might technically make the means of arriving at the house a more potent symbol of superficial status than the house itself.