Comedian Buddy Hackett’s Former Beverly Hills Home Hits the Market for $18 Million
Before late actor and comedian Buddy Hackett settled into his longtime home across from the Los Angeles Country Club, the legendary funnyman lived at this Beverly Hills estate just a few doors down the street. Hackett, who died in 2003 at the age of 78 at his beach house in Malibu, is best remembered for his roles in The Music Man and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
The Spanish-style compound at 718 Walden Drive sprawls over an almost half-acre lot in an area of town known as the Beverly Hills Flats. Over the years, the neighborhood of broad, tree-lined streets and stately residences amid sculpted gardens has been home to a slew of high-profile residents, including Jimmy Stewart, Diane Keaton, and Simon Cowell. It’s also the neighborhood where Howard Hughes took out three homes when he crashed an experimental plane in July 1947 and where, just a month earlier, gangster Bugsey Siegel was gunned down in the home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill.
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Hackett’s former digs, which date to 1929, recently got a top-to-bottom spruce-up courtesy of its current owners who have floated the revamped spread onto the market for just shy of $18 million. “They completely took it down to the studs,” listing agent Rochelle Maize of Nourmand & Associates told Mansion Global. “It’s almost like a brand new house.” The main residence features four bedrooms and seven bathrooms in just over 7,700 square feet. There are two additional guest spaces on the property.
The overhaul nicely preserved some of the home’s original architectural details, including the creamy white stucco, terracotta roof, and exposed wood ceilings, while the decorator-ready white-walled interior spaces were largely stripped of moldings and other extraneous ornamentation. Important upgrades also included the installation of new electrical and plumbing systems, high-definition security cameras, and a home automation system with Nest thermostats.
The home is tucked behind a spacious courtyard clad with red brick, and just beyond the front doors are clear remnants of the abode’s past. The staircase is dressed up with decorative tiles, and there are soaring truss ceilings in the foyer and living room. The dwelling also includes a large family room decked out with a custom, step-down bar. This space also contains a wine cellar and custom wall-to-wall cabinets, while the nearby chef’s kitchen is equipped with an impressive 12-foot center island and top-of-the-line appliances from Sub-Zero and Wolf.
Other standout spaces include a dedicated entertainment lounge with a wet bar and the main bedroom, which is outfitted with a private office that opens onto an outdoor balcony, as well as dual closets, and a pair of spa baths kitted out with heated flooring.
The property’s ample proportions provide plenty of room for a 40-foot-long swimming pool and a pool house with a bathroom, plus a spacious en-suite guest unit above the detached two-car garage. And for those on the pickleball craze, a flat expanse of lawn alongside the pool will comfortably accommodate a regulation pickleball court.
Click here to see more photos of Buddy Hackett’s former Beverly Hills home.
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