Sayonara to Bel-Air Homestead

Red Buttons, the Oscar-winning actor-comedian who has a recurring role in the Showtime series “Street Time,” has sold his Westside home of 37 years.

“I’m not talking about money,” Buttons said. “I like the buyer so much, I gave it to him as a birthday present.”

No Realtors were involved in the deal, but industry sources said the house, on two acres in Bel-Air, could have sold for as much as $8 million.

Built in 1950, the house has five bedrooms and five bathrooms in slightly more than 5,300 square feet. The home also has a pool.

Buttons, 83, is moving to a penthouse in Beverly Hills.

After more than 65 years in the entertainment business, he has no plans to retire. He still does a stand-up comedy act. “It’s fun,” Buttons said. “I still enjoy it.”

The red-haired comic said he got his name for the buttons on his uniform when he was 16 and working as a singing bellboy in a New York hotel. Early on in his career, he performed in the Catskills and played in burlesque.

In 1942, he made his Broadway acting debut in a supporting role in “Vickie.” He made his feature film debut in “Winged Victory” (1944).

Adept in dramatic as well as comedy roles, Buttons earned an Oscar for best supporting actor in “Sayonara” (1957). In the ‘50s, he had his own comedy and variety show on CBS and NBC.

He also appeared in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” (1969) and “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972).

Buttons has been in such TV series and specials as “Knot’s Landing,” “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast,” “Family Law” and “Philly,” on which he guest starred in January.

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Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight has purchased a Westside home for about $5 million.

The house, on slightly more than six acres, has five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a media room and a library in about 10,000 square feet. Built about three years ago, the contemporary-style home also has a pool.

Knight, co-founder and chief executive of Death Row Records in 1991, renamed the record company Tha Row last year, when he was released from prison after serving about five years for a parole violation on a previous conviction involving a fight at a Las Vegas hotel.

“Say Hi to the Bad Guy,” a debut album by Long Beach rapper Crooked I, is due out Sept. 24 as the first album from Knight’s new label, and a posthumous album from TLC member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes is expected to be released in October.

In July, Knight received notice from the IRS claiming he owes about $6 million in personal income taxes, according to his attorney Arthur Barens. The notice came as “a surprise,” Barens said at the time.

Knight, 36, is known professionally as “Suge,” which is short for “Sugar Bear,” a nickname his father gave him as a child.

In the music business, Knight was successful in persuading established rappers to join his label and signing up new talent. Within three years of co-founding Death Row Records, the company recorded multi-platinum albums for Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic,” Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Doggy Style” and the motion-picture soundtrack “Above the Rim.”

Bob Hurwitz, president of Hurwitz-James in Beverly Hills, handled the home purchase.

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Brian Beirne, known as “Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll” on KRTH-FM where he has been a radio personality for more than 26 years--and his wife, Cindee, have put their Hollywood Hills home on the market for slightly more than $1.9 million.

The couple decided to sell the home because they bought another one in Newport Beach. In addition to his KRTH show, Beirne also hosts and produces concerts.

In 1992, the Beirnes built and designed the home they are selling.

The four-story contemporary, with an elevator, has four bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in slightly more than 5,200 square feet. The master suite occupies an entire level. The house also has a family or media room with a bar and a fireplace, a pool, a sauna and panoramic city and canyon views.

Jonah Wilson at Prudential California, John Aaroe Division in Beverly Hills, has the listing.

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The Bristol, R.I., estate of late actor Anthony Quinn has come on the market at $5 million.

Quinn, who died at 86 in June 2001, bought the 11-acre property, with 400 feet on the water, eight years ago. The site includes a 7,300-square-foot Bermuda ranch-style home with two guest houses.

The Oscar-winning actor, who played characters such as Zorba the Greek, is buried on an abutting seven-acre site with a remembrance garden.

His widow, Katherine, is building a smaller home for herself and their two children on another part of the property.

Richard S. Dower of Barrington Properties in Barrington, R.I., has the listing.

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Want to see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions? Visit www.latimes.com/hotproperty.