A 1930s hacienda in Los Angeles with a long Hollywood pedigree is selling for the first time in more than 80 years.
The home belonging to the late Golden Age agent and producer Paul Kohner and his wife, Lupita Tovar, a pioneer of Mexican cinema, hit the market on Monday for $11.9 million. Kohner, who died in 1988, founded Kohner Agency, the second-oldest talent agency in Hollywood, managing the careers of a number of European stars who made it big in the U.S., including Ingmar Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Billy Wilder, as well as American-born legends like actor-director John Huston.
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Using the 1935 six-bedroom, five-bathroom Spanish-style home as their base, Kohner and Tovar feted the biggest stars of the day, including Greta Garbo, another of Kohner’s clients, Buster Keaton and Charles Bronson, according to the listing with Joyce Rey and Timothy Di Prizito of Coldwell Banker. The brokers did not immediately return requests for comment.
Tovar, a Mexican-American actress, starred in some of the first Spanish-language and Mexican sound films, including a Spanish version of Bela Lugosi’s "Dracula" in 1930. She passed away in November at 106.
A sultry Lupita Tovar with co-star Gene Autry—one of the many stars Kohner and Tovar feted at their Bel Air house—in the western "South of the Border"
Hulton Archive / Getty ImagesMany "Dracula" fans prefer Tovar’s Spanish-language version to the English one because it’s more erotic and livelier, according to a segment about her death on NPR.
The children and grandchildren have carried their torch in the entertainment industry. Their daughter, Susan Kohner Weitz, was an actress from the 1950s and ’60s, nominated for an Academy Award for the 1959 dramatic comedy "Imitation of Life." She is listed as a trustee on the Los Angeles estate, according to property records.
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Her children, Kohner and Tovar’s grandchildren, Paul and Chris Weitz, are also active in Hollywood. They directed and produced the "American Pie" series and romantic comedy "About a Boy," starring Hugh Grant. Chris Weitz has also directed a number of recent book-adapted blockbusters like "The Golden Compass" and the second "Twilight" film "New Moon."
The 3,550-square-foot home has been in the family since the 1930s and is nestled on a tree-lined corner in Bel Air, according to the listing.
Despite its Hollywood history, the listing agents are marketing the home to developers as a potential tear-down. The flat lot is zoned for a main house and guest house "with room for any amenity one could dream up."