Making a Case for a Penthouse

Portia de Rossi, a co-star of the hit Fox series “Ally McBeal,” has purchased a penthouse condominium in Hollywood.

The actress, 27, started out as a model in her native Australia but moved to the United States in 1995 after her feature debut in the movie “Sirens” (1994).

Later, she played the love interest of star Eric Schaeffer in the Fox sitcom “Too Something” (1995) and portrayed a co-worker in the WB sitcom “Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher” (1996-97). She had a featured role as a sorority sister in “Scream 2” (1997).

In 1998, she joined the cast of David E. Kelley’s “Ally McBeal” as attorney Nelle Porter. The same year, she shared the Screen Actors Guild award to the “Ally McBeal” cast for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. Last year, she made an appearance in the movie “Stigmata.”

Her new home has a bedroom and a loft plus two baths in slightly more than 2,000 square feet. She purchased the unit, in a 70-year-old building, for close to $749,000.

Laura and Brian Moore of Re/Max, Beverly Hills, had the listing.

Elaine Schneider of Coldwell Banker, Hancock Park, represented the actress.

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Jack Benny’s former Beverly Hills home of 30 years has been sold for close to its $6.9-million asking price.

Built for the late comedian in 1938, the house is on the same street where Lucille Ball and Jimmy Stewart lived. The three were neighbors for many years.

The seller, a Beverly Hills businessman, had owned the home, which he refurbished, for more than 20 years. The buyer is a local doctor-businessman.

The Georgian colonial-style home has four bedrooms plus maid’s quarters in about 10,000 square feet. The home also has a guest apartment, a pool house and a five-car garage.

Loren Judd at Westside Estate Agency, Beverly Hills, had the listing.

Joan Cohen of Sotheby’s International Real Estate, Beverly Hills, represented the buyer.

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The Firestone Estate in Rancho Mirage, a home on three acres built in 1958 and owned by the late industrialist and diplomat Leonard Firestone, is back on the market after being sold last year for the first time. The asking price is just under $4 million.

The one-story, home of nearly 8,000square feet was completely restored by designer Patrick Day after it was purchased in April. Firestone, ambassador to Belgium and heir to the Firestone tire fortune, entertained heads of state and celebrities at the estate before he died at 89 in 1996.

The estate, next door to the home of former President Gerald Ford and his wife, Betty, shares a Secret Service security gate in the Thunderbird Country Club.

Designed by Pereira and Luckman Architects, the Firestone home has four bedroom suites, 7 1/2 baths and a living room with two walls of glass. The master suite has a gym, office, sitting room and bath with steam shower.

There is a 13-foot-long center island in the main kitchen and a two-bedroom guest house with a second kitchen. The estate also has a tennis court and a 52-foot-long pool.

Nelda Linsk of Coldwell Banker Eadie Adams Realty, Palm Springs, has the listing.

The Hollywood Hills home of Donald E. Stewart, the late Oscar-winning screenwriter (“Missing,” 1982), has been sold for about $1 million to Frank Lombardi, a writer and executive producer of the long-running sitcom “The Nanny.”

Stewart, who died at 69 in May, also wrote the screenplays for “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), “Patriot Games” (1992) and “Clear and Present Danger” (1994).

The house has two bedrooms, an office, a screening room and three fireplaces. It was built in 1958.

Mark Hess of Coldwell Banker Previews, Beverly Hills North office, represented the seller, Stewart’s widow, Joan, who has a catering business called A Matter of Taste.

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