The longtime home of Hollywood legend, comedian, pianist, and singer Jimmy Durante sold for $3.2 million after not being on the market for more than 60 years. The house first listed in July at $3,395,000 after the passing of Durante’s wife in June. The L.A. Times reported that the listing agent David Yocum of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills North office said the property drew interest from fans and bidders worldwide.
After dropping out of eighth grade, Durante became a vaudeville star and a radio personality known for his Brooklyn accent and big nose, which he referred to as his “Schnozzola,” a term that stuck and became his endearing nickname. He married his second wife Marjorie Little on Christmas Day after meeting her at the Copacabana hatcheck 16 years earlier. He went on to raise their adopted daughter Cecelia in this same Beverly Hills home.
The property, which he bought in 1944 and had renovated in 1963, features a main residence with three bedrooms; two-and-a-half baths; a two-story guesthouse with a one-bedroom apartment upstairs and a maid’s storage on the ground floor; pool, pool house and dry sauna. The 1963 contemporary renovation was done by architects Marvin and Kelsey and seems to have been professionally redecorated in the early 1960s.
All memorabilia from the Durante estate will go to the UCLA Durante archives and the Smithsonian.
Via L.A. Times
