As silent films transitioned to ‘talkies’, thousands of young hopeful actors flooded into Los Angeles, hoping to skyrocket to fame and fortune on the silver screen. With so many movie stars concentrated in one place, Hollywood and its surrounding suburbs quickly became host to some of the most spectacular residences of the age, many of which are still standing today.
From Cary Grant to Marilyn Monroe, click or scroll to see where your favourite stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age used to call home…
This Beverly Hills mega-mansion was once the home of Hollywood star Rock Hudson. Photographed in 1985 the year of the star's death, it is every bit as glamorous today as it would have been when the star was in residence. The home was listed for the first time in 24 years in July of 2021, according to the New York Post, with an initial ask price of $55.5 million (£43.7m).
Remarkably, however, the property struggled to secure a buyer, and ultimately sold for $45 million (£40m), a $10.5 million (£8.3m) price drop.
With a film career spanning more than three decades, Rock Hudson was one of the brightest stars of the Hollywood Golden Age, and one of the greatest heartthrobs in cinematic history. However, although married to Phyllis Gates for three years, Hudson was also known amongst his more intimate friends to be gay, and was one of the first celebrities to disclose an AIDS diagnosis.
After a prestigious film and later TV career which saw him starring alongside the likes of Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor, Hudson sadly succumbed to the disease at the age of 59.
Hudson’s spectacular 9,600-square-foot Spanish-style mansion was actually purchased for him by Universal Pictures at the peak of his career, and included in his contract with the studio. Hudson lived at the property from the time of its acquisition by Universal in 1962, until his own death in 1985.
The estate was then purchased by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 1992, who acquired several surrounding parcels and added them to the property. These were included in the sale, according to The Post.
The magnificent estate boasts five bedrooms and five bathrooms across a whopping 24,370 square feet, all set on a 3.2-acre hilltop parcel. Obviously built for entertaining Hollywood’s elite, the home includes multiple opulent public spaces, including a spacious living room with an exposed beam ceiling, a stately library, cosy family room and a gourmet, eat-in kitchen. The actor is pictured here in 1963 looking through his record collection while at home.
There’s also plenty of room in the property for hosting overnight guests in the separate two-bed guest house, not to mention the staff quarters!
Other luxurious features for at-home entertainment and fitness include a home gym with massage room, a screening room, a swimming pool, a championship lighted tennis court and numerous patios perfect for outdoor lounging and dining. According to the property listing, there is also a state-of-the-art glass and steel recording studio and private office housed in another independent structure.
With so many facilities, who would ever want to leave?
Following her divorce from her third husband, Marilyn Monroe finally decided to put down roots in 1961, settling in the first home she had ever bought herself in the Brentwood neighbourhood of LA. The walled home was accessible only via a gated entrance, providing the star, by then aged 35 and already world-weary, some much-needed privacy and seclusion.
She moved into the property with her longtime housekeeper, Eunice Murray, and shut out the world.
Marilyn Monroe, nee Norma Jeane Mortenson, was one of the most iconic actresses of the mid-20th century. Famed for playing comedic blond bombshells, the actress, model, and signer enjoyed top billing for a decade, with her films grossing more than $200 million, or the modern-day equivalent of $2 billion (£159m), by the time of her death, which came tragically shortly after she moved into her LA home.
In 1962, at the age of just 36, the star passed away at home. Sadly, when Marilyn finally found a place to call her own, her problems were too great for her to overcome.
Today, Marylin’s would-be forever home remains in much the same state as she would have known it in her final months, and reportedly still contains features the star bought on a reported trip to Mexico to scout decorations.
The single-storey Spanish-style home was originally built in 1929, and includes four bedrooms and three bathrooms across 2,600 square feet, as well as a beautifully manicured yard.
Purchased in 1961, at the age of 35, the star reportedly paid $75,000 – that's around $778,400 (£611k) today. The home features plenty of original architectural details, including arched doorways, beamed ceilings, terracotta tiling, and a blue-tiled fireplace in the living room, all of which are still as Marilyn would have known them.
After her death, the iconic home was bought by owners who planned to demolish the historic property. Luckily, a worldwide outcry halted the bulldozers.
The owners of the property filed for demolition permits and, in September 2023, the LA Department of Building and Safety gave the go-ahead for a 'plan check,' which would begin the destruction process, according to The New York Post. The bijou four-bedroom home was bought in July 2023 by a mysterious entity known as Glory of the Snow Trust for just over $8.3 million (£6.5m), having previously been owned by Glory of the Snow LLC, who bought it for a little under $7.2 million (£5.7m) in 2017.
Luckily for movie fans, the plans were stopped in their tracks and in January 2024, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to declare the property a historic cultural monument.
Whenever Frank Sinatra needed to just 'Get Away From It All' he could retreat to his stunning complex perched overlooking the Palm Desert. Villa Maggio, as the property was dubbed after Sinatra’s character in From Here to Eternity, was supposedly one of the singer’s favourite hideaways, and is mentioned multiple times in Barbara Sinatra’s Biography, Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank.
Frank Sinatra was one of the most iconic singers and entertainers of the 20th century, with an estimated 150 million record sales. Noted for his silky baritone and his piercing blue eyes, Sinatra first rose to fame as a swing-era singer and ‘bobby soxer’ idol, and later pursued a successful acting career, starring in films such as Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and From Here to Eternity, for which he received an Academy Award.
One of 'Ol’ Blue Eyes’ last homes, Villa Maggio dates to 1970 and still retains the same period-specific details that would have existed during Sinatra’s time at the property, thanks to a loving restoration.
Sinatra himself helped design and build the home, which is constructed largely of locally sourced stone and hardwoods, and boasts spectacular 360 views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Plus, at an elevation of 4,300 feet, the house provides the perfect escape from the desert heat.
Sinatra conceived of the property as the ideal retreat for himself and his Rat Pack buddies, which meant he needed both plenty of space and maximum privacy.
And indeed, it's not hard to imagine the Rat Pack lounging in the secluded luxury of the home’s interiors. With hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, exposed beams, and multiple fireplaces, the entire home exudes an air of casual elegance, perfect for the celebrity on holiday.
In addition to the main lodge-style residence which features five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms across 6,428 square feet, the property includes a three-bed guest house, a pool with pool house and sauna, tennis and basketball courts, and, of course, a helipad, all set on a remote 7.5-acre gated lot.
The property has been on and off the market many times over the years, and if you can picture yourself in this storied setting, Villa Maggio was most recently on the market priced at $4.5 million (£3.6m). Now if only walls could talk!
Inspired by the English country style, Humphrey Bogart’s old abode in LA looks straight out of a storybook. The home was built in 1927 by Evander Hoven, a popular architect on the celebrity circuit at the time, and Bogart is believed to have lived there until 1937.
Boasting ivy-clad walls, cobblestone accents, and roof tiles carefully layered to create a thatching effect, the home certainly has a fairytale quality.
Designated the ‘greatest male star’ of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute in 1999, Humphrey Bogart was one of Hollywood’s brightest stars of the 1940s and 50s.
While he started out as an actor on the Broadway stage, he is best known for starring in iconic films such as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and The African Queen, for which he won an Academy Award.
Given the timeline of his acting career, Bogart would have moved into the LA home just prior to his film debut, starring opposite Helen Hayes in the 1928 two-reeler, The Dancing Town. Bogart would likely have moved in along with his new bride, actress Mary Philips, whom he had married in the spring of that same year.
The home would certainly would have made a charming love nest, set back in a leaf enclave, and offering three bedrooms and three bathrooms across 2,081 square feet of space.
The home’s double-height living room is particularly charming, with vaulted, wood-beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, and a set of French doors leading out onto a veranda.
Other entertaining spaces include the formal dining room, which boasts a large arched picture window and a vintage-style kitchen complete with quartz countertops, a farmhouse-style sink, and a spacious pantry.
This living room nook looks cosy and intimate and ideal for entertaining. Upstairs, three bedrooms are equally charming, the master boasting its own private entrance on the home’s lower level, as well as an ensuite with pedestal sinks and a clawfoot tub. A bonus room could be converted into a fourth bedroom, or used as a home office, playroom, or gym.
The entire home is encircled by a grassy yard, and according to a 2018 rental listing, it has flagstone patios surrounded by mature sycamore trees, providing ideal spots for outdoor dining.
While the Hollywood Studio Club has largely fallen through the cracks of the city’s more glamorous historical accounts, it remains an important puzzle piece in the early days of the silver screen. For almost 60 years, the Studio Club provided aspiring female actors with room and board, a safe haven for women to practise for auditions, take classes, and form friendships that would last a lifetime.
Over its many years of operation, the Studio Club played host to the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Donna Reed, Ayn Rand, Rita Moreno, and Kim Novak.
The star of classic films including Vertigo, Bell, Book and Candle, and The Man with the Golden Arm, Kim Novak was another blond bombshell whose career took Hollywood by storm, earning her two Golden Globe awards, an Honorary Golden Bear award, and a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
However, in the early days of her career, she was one of countless other young hopefuls who flocked west during the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, all hoping to catch their big break and become Hollywood’s next ‘it’ girl.
Unfortunately, the vast majority found out the hard way that the ‘city of stars’ was a well-oiled machine and not always the most hospitable for hopeful young women.
Enter the Hollywood Studio Club – which started out in the early 1920s as a three-bedroom house, with more than around 22 women crammed into makeshift accommodation in the basement, porches and garage.
However, the Studio Club found soon an unexpected champion in Will Hays, the renowned ‘movie czar’ of the 1920s, who was frequently hired by film studios to shore up their foundering reputations.
Hays rallied the studios and the local YWCA into pledging enough funds for the construction of a much larger building, and hired celebrated female architect Julia Morgan for the job.
Morgan created the version of the Studio Club which rose to prominence – a pink Italian Renaissance Revival-inspired structure which ultimately boasted a spacious foyer, a library, several writing rooms, a large dining room, a stage, and a series of single and double bedrooms capable of accommodating up to 100 women.
From 1926, ambitous actresses, scriptwriters, film editors, and publicists between the prescripted ages of 18-35 flocked to the new club and cemented its vital role in Hollywood history.
It should come as no great shock that Walt Disney’s long-time home resembles a perfect fairytale home. Complete with mullioned windows and covered in ivy, this enchanting home provided the inspiration for the iconic hit Snow White, The New York Post has reported.
Disney lived at the “Storybook Cottage,” as the property has been dubbed, from 1932 to 1950, during which time he raised his two daughters, Diane and Sharon, who’s childhood playhouse still sits on the property.
Walt Disney began his celebrated career with the development of a simple cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, in 1928. Disney soon skyrocketed to fame with more hit animated films in the early days of synchronised sound and Technicolor during the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and in 1955, opened his first theme park: Disneyland, in Anaheim, California.
To this day, Walt Disney still holds the record for the most Academy Awards earned by a film producer.
Designed with a combination of French Country Tudor and Neo-Gothic elements, Disney’s Los Feliz home has been lovingly maintained to preserve both its architectural and whimsical details.
In June 2023, Disney’s fairytale home hit the rental market for $40,000 (£31.7k) a month, offering a sneak peak inside. These include a double-height living room with exposed beams, an exquisitely frescoed dining room ceiling, and custom stained-glass panes throughout the home which depict different Disney cartoon characters. There is even a Gothic church font containing a model of Goofy in the living room!
The 6,300 square foot home offers three full bathrooms, two half bathrooms and four bedrooms, two of which are named “Mary Poppins” and “Winnie the Pooh” respectively in honour of the two celebrated films Disney’s daughters inspired him to pursue while they lived in the house.
Here, Walt Disney is pictured playing with his daughter and dog in his garden in 1940.
Another special feature dating to Disney’s days at the home is the media room, which still includes the original screen where the filmmaker would watch the dailies of his productions.
For outdoor entertainment, the property also includes a lush backyard, beautiful pool, and vine-covered pergola which itself looks worthy of Disney animation, and provides the perfect spot for dining alfresco.
From silent film stars to iconic composers, this glamorous beachfront compound in Santa Monica has seen it all.
The 5,530-square-foot home was originally built for actress Norma Talmadge, but its roster of subsequent inhabitants includes Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Sharon Tate, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and, in the course of his highly theorised friendship with Grant, actor Randolph Scott.
While Cary Grant has long been considered one of Hollywood’s all-time greatest icons, with countless glamorous romances on and off screen, and five wives, he certainly enjoyed his bachelorhood while it lasted.
In the early 1930s, Grant supposedly purchased this beach house with fellow Paramount contractee, Randolph Scott, and the two happily cohabitated on and off for the better part of a decade in between their respective marriages.
The home is approached by an elegant motor court with a central fountain, and a four-car garage offers plenty of parking for house guests. With five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a heated swimming pool, and paddle tennis/pickle ball courts, the home certainly offers ample space for hosting and entertaining.
The house has been finished to a high standard throughout, with hardwood and terracotta flooring, exposed beams, statement windows, and an elegant marble fireplace.
With breathtaking views of the Atlantic, the airy home is the quintessential beach house, and has been left in largely the same state it was in under its Golden Age occupants.
When Cary Grant married Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton in 1942, she also moved into the beach house, renovating the dining room to resemble the one in the famous Parisian restaurant, Maxim’s, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Designed for the rich and famous, the 5,530-square-foot home also includes staff quarters with a separate entrance. The storied property was last on the market in 2018. Marketed by Jade Mills for Coldwell Banker Realty it sold for a substantial $8 million (£6.3m), according to Zillow.
Everyone loved Lucy, and the wise-cracking redhead who brought her to life, Lucille Ball, was a regular in most living rooms across America for six years. At the core of the popular sitcom was the chaotic but loving marriage between Lucy and Ricky, played by real-life husband and wife Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
While the characters of Lucy and Ricky shared a quaint mid-century home in New York, the off-screen couple resided in this far more glamorous Beverly Hills abode for many years.
While Lucille Ball began her career in the 1930s as a model and Broadway chorus girl, it was not until she found her niche as a comedienne that she began to skyrocket towards stardom.
While working as a contractee for RKO Pictures, playing minor roles, Ball met and soon eloped with the charismatic Cuban-born band leader Desi Arnaz. The two went on to co-create the hit sitcom I Love Lucy, which cemented Ball’s place in cinematic history.
Ball and Arnaz were married in 1940, and in the early 1950s, Ball gave birth to their two children, Lucie and Desi Arnaz Jr. The young family moved into this beautiful Beverly Hills home in 1954, and although Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960, the comedienne opted to remain at the property until her death in 1989.
In fact, rumours have even suggested that she may never have left…
Many believe that the ghost of Lucille Ball still haunts her long-term Beverly Hills home. Not only have there been multiple reports of unexplained broken windows, eerie shouting coming from the attic, and furniture moving around the home, but several friends of Ball’s have actually reported sighting her ghost on the property.
It’s not hard to imagine why she might want to return, as photos like this one reveal a seemingly extremely happy family life. The house is located in a neighbourhood once peppered with other famous actors, including Jack Benny and Jimmy Stewart, Ball’s long-time neighbours.
It certainly would have made an exciting place to grow up, with Stewart regularly swinging by with fresh vegetables from his garden, and Rosemary Clooney and José Ferrer's kids selling lemonade on the corner!
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