Long before Spartacus movie legend Kirk Douglas was awarded a star on the Walk of Fame, he was working on creating his own slice of Hollywood history — just seven miles away.
The late actor and his wife Anne lived in a one-storey home in the exclusive Beverly Hills Flats area for nearly 50 years, hosting glamorous dinner parties attended by some of the biggest names from the Golden Age — and collecting their autographs on a network of paving slabs in the garden.
The 40 signatures on some 22 slabs include those by Hollywood royalty Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, Burt Lancaster, Michael Caine and Jack Nicholson. Other household names include former US president Ronald Reagan and singer Frank Sinatra.
Now, almost two years since Douglas’s death, the family home has been reportedly bought by an orthopaedic surgeon for $9.015 million (£6.6 million) — $1.52 million over the $7.495 million (£5.5 million) asking price.
The four-bedroom, traditional home spanning 15,500sq ft has an indoor-outdoor living space that leads to a swimming pool and a separate two-storey guest house.
Agent Rochelle Maize of Nourmand & Associates told The Wall Street Journal that an “unheard of” 31 offers were made on the Beverly Hills home.
The new owner described the home’s very own Walk of Fame as “the biggest surprise” and “priceless”, according to WSJ.