The 1920s estate includes a main house, two cottages, a bungalow and two-story guesthouse set among fountains and koi ponds.(Christopher Amitrano / CS8 Photo)
In one of Beverly Crest’s biggest deals so far this year, director Joseph McGinty Nichol, better known as McG, has paid $14.7 million for the iconic Bella Vista estate. He bought it from actress Donna Scott.
The sale ends a six-year marketing journey for the 95-year-old Spanish villa. It first surfaced for sale in 2015 for $42.5 million along with seven acres of land. With no takers, the price and land size were steadily reduced; it most recently listed earlier this year for $15.5 million on one acre.
It’s a natural landing place for McG, director of the films “Charlie’s Angels,” “We Are Marshall” and “Terminator Salvation.” Since the home was built in 1926, a parade of actors and filmmakers from different eras of cinema have lived there.
Scott, who starred in the films “Déjà Vu” and “Domino,” owned the home with her husband Tony Scott, the director of “Top Gun” and “True Romance,” who died in 2012. It was built for prolific director King Vidor and later owned by John Barrymore, the stage and screen legend whose film career spanned the silent and talkie eras.