In his role as Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, this actor warned that “scandals” always have a habit of coming out. He graduated in Theology at Cambridge but, according to Adam Helliker of the Daily Express, Bonneville wasn’t especially keen to show Christian compassion towards Lord Archer at a party at The Cadogan Hotel when it was requested that the pair be photographed together.
Tag: acting
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Hugh Bonneville
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Tarred by Paparazzi
The bonfire sale of a monster of a mansion that has had a $15 million price reduction
A property was first built at 10425 West Sunset Boulevard in Lower Bel Air, Los Angeles in 1936. Here, in this most exclusive of districts, the homes of the prosperous residents are hidden from view and this address, this day, is no exception.
One of the original owners of a house on this site, which has a main access from the cul-de-sac Revuelta Way, was William R. Wilkerson (1890 – 1962), a nightclub owner and founder of The Hollywood Reporter. A compulsive gambler, he is also credited with contributing to Hollywood’s “Golden Era” through the venues he opened. These included Vendome, Café Tocadero, Sunset House, Ciro’s, LaRue, L’Aiglon and most famously The Flamingo Hotel. An involvement here with the ruthless gangster Ben “Bugsy” Siegel (1906 – 1947) turned sour in 1946 and resulted in him having to flee to Paris in fear of his life. Siegel’s death allowed him to return to Los Angeles in 1947 and having “quit gambling cold turkey” following the birth of a son in 1951, he led a much quieter life. He is remembered as being a man who preferred his “beloved French poodles to any wife or friend.”
Media mogul William R. Wilkerson (1890 – 1962) pictured with Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) 
American film personality and the publisher of “The Hollywood Reporter” Beatrice “Tichi” Wilkerson Kassel (1926 – 2004) Wilkerson is first recorded as living at 10425 West Sunset Boulevard in the 1940 California Census with his fourth wife, Estelle Jackson Brown. He subsequently remained there with his fifth wife, Vivian DuBois, and sixth wife Beatrice “Tichi” Noble. After his death, Tichi Wilkerson (1926 – 2004) sold first 10425 West Sunset Boulevard and then, in 1988, The Hollywood Reporter for $26,700,000.
Greg Bautzer (1911 – 1987) with Ginger Rogers (1911 – 1995) Another famous owner of 10425 West Sunset Boulevard was a “celebrity attorney” named Greg Bautzer (1911 – 1987). Bautzer is best known for having represented not only William R. Wilkerson but also Ginger Rogers, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Kirk Kerkorian and Howard Hughes. He is described as having been “as dashing and popular as any successful Hollywood movie star” and was engaged to but did not marry the actresses Barbara Payton, Lana Turner and Dorothy Lamour. He did, however, make the actress Dana Wynter his second wife in 1956, then Buffy Cobb Chapman and finally Nicola Dantine. This “man-about-Beverly Hills,” it seems, was indeed plainly a magnet for anything dramatic.
Philanthropist and Bernini owner Yousuf Tar The current owner of the house, which is now somewhat ludicrously named Chateau d’Or or The House of Gold, is a man named Yousuf Tar. The president of the “faux-Italian mall fixture Bernini men’s clothing [company],” bought 10425 West Sunset Boulevard in 1992 for $6,000,000 and set about creating what his realtor, Sally Forster Jones, calls a “cross between The White House and Versailles.” The resulting remodeled residence isn’t quite either but frankly combines a mixture of one of the palaces of the deceased tyrant Colonel Gadaffi and the set of Dynasty.
The gaudy gates to Chateau d’Or, 10425 West Sunset Boulevard, Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, CA 90077, USA are an indication of the “tackiness” that lies behind 
A 600ft main driveway leads to the front of the house from Revuelta Way. Secondary access comes from West Sunset Boulevard. 
The garden elevation of the Chateau d’Or 
The exterior of Chateau d’Or is anything but understated Decorated throughout in a white and gold, the aim of the redesign was to create the look of an 18th century palace complete with acres of marble, columns, cupolas, gold leaft and mouldings. Instead, the interpretation looks more Chigwell-esque than Parisian and has simply attracted criticism and mockery. An example, such as this from Curbed.com, gives a guide to the opinion of the majority about this ugly monstrosity:
“[The mansion] houses some of the cheapest-looking French-inspired interiors ever made, highlighted (or, rather, lowlighted) by a towering, clunky fireplace and a cartoon-worthy master suite, with gilded everything. Even San Simeon’s William Randolph Hearst would object to this level of pointless expenditure.”
The dining hall is currently furnished with a $300,000 table capable of seating upto eighty for a formal dinner. With an entirely gold dinner service, realtor Sally Forster Jones comments: “Food tastes so much better off gold.” 
The opulent meets gaudy theme continues with a marble hallway and staircase 
A sitting room fit for Saddam Hussein 
Chateau d’Or’s double height media room is supposedly “styled like an opera house” 
The master bedroom suite is as nearly as large as most homes and is some 5,000 square foot in size 
No restraint is shown in the choice of bathroom fittings either Chateau d’Or, according to the listing on Forster Jones’s website, features 25,953 square foot of living space with 15 bedrooms and 16.5 bathrooms. There is a vast dining hall capable of seating upto 80 for a formal dinner which currently features a $300,000 dining table and a 1,600 square foot “oversized gourmet kitchen” complete with 800 square foot of cupboards, an “indoor sunlit gazebo” and a double Viking oven. A double height media room styled as an opera house has also been created and there’s also a cigar and wine tasting room. The Chateau d’Or is nothing other than a “home” on a lavish and ludicrous scale.
The pool sits alongside a 6-bedroomed guest house 
Chateau d’Or also has it’s own championship tennis court 
One of numerous terraces In addition to a swimming pool, spa and gym, Chateau d’Or also has a championship tennis court, guest accommodation and 1.7 acres of grounds. Accessed by a 600ft driveway and surrounded by privacy walls plainly designed to keep prying eyes out, the house featured in Lady Gaga’s 2009 video for her song Paparazzi. Mr Tar plainly isn’t that private at all.
Lady Gaga filmed the video for her 2009 song “Paparazzi” at Chateau d’Or 
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (AKA Lady Gaga) in one of the “cheap looking” chairs at Chateau d’Or Not shy of renting the house out for other purposes, it has also been used for a photoshoot for Versace, a television advert for Foot Locker and Addidas starring Ken Jeong and as a venue for a Dubai themed party for Donald Trump where Christina Aguilera performed.
Ken Jeong in a 2010 advert for Foot Locker and Addidas at Chateau d’Or 
Donald Trump, Sr. with his daughter Ivanka Trump and son Donald Trump, Jr. at a party at Chateau d’Or Yousuf Tar put Chateau d’Or on the market in 2009 for just shy of $40,000,000 and though Michael Jackson supposedly wanted to buy it to create a “new Neverland,” his sad demise meant that this fell through. Relisted repeatedly since and despite the best efforts of Sally Forster Jones, Chateau d’Or’s gaudiness plainly hasn’t appealed to the market.
You’d had to have been gaga to have paid $40,000,000 for Chateau d’Or Reduced by nearly $15,000,000 to $25,000,000 this month, Chateau d’Or still doesn’t look like much of a bargain. Somehow, we suspect, it’ll have to be marked down a fair bit more before anyone’s even vaguely tempted.
For more information Chateau d’Or, 10425 West Sunset Boulevard, Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, CA 90077, USA contact Sally Forster Jones of the SFJ Group at +1 (310) 281 3999 or email her at: [email protected]
Visit the official website for the house at: http://www.lechateaudor.com
Watch a tour of Chateau d’Or by Sally Forster Jones at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOAf_cfm0Q
Watch Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2smz_1L2_0
For more information about William R. Wilkerson, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilkerson
Read The Hollywood Reporter at: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com
For more details about Bernini, go to: http://www.bernini.com
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Hawn's Housesitter
The sale of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s Malibu beach house
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell Goldie Hawn’s performance in the 1992 romantic comedy Housesitter with Steve Martin was described by the noted film critic Roger Ebert as “one of her best performances.” In the film, Martin’s character builds a dream home for himself and his girlfriend but is unable to bring himself to live in it after she refuses to marry him. Hawn’s character moves in to housesit the empty love nest and in turn the pair fall for one another.
The glass wall of the rear of Hawn and Russell’s beachfront home at 30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu, California, CA 90265 
The vast living area of the property 
The cinema room of the house 
The perfect bar for entertaining after a day on the beach 
One of the property’s four bedroom suites In the late 1980s, Hawn and her partner of some 30 years, fellow actor Kurt Russell, bought themselves a dream beach house at 30802 Broad Beach Road in Malibu, California. With direct frontage onto Broad Beach, which the Los Angeles Times describes as a “confusing mosaic of public and private sands” that “has shrunk into a narrow sliver of its former self” due to coastal erosion, the pair created a residence that has been decorated in a style described by some as “exotic” and “Buddhist themed” and by others as “late-1970s contemporary.”
Here, alongside neighbours including Pierce Brosnan, Steven Spielberg, Danny DeVito and Dustin Hoffman, Hawn and Russell were able to enjoy summer vacations in a 4,195 square foot two-storey home that includes 4 bedrooms and “4.5 baths.” The property also includes vast open plan living areas, a wet bar, a number of balconies and a media room kitted out with a Crestron home entertainment system. In addition there is separate guest accommodation and a 3-car garage, as well as landscaped garden areas with direct beach access via a path through the adjoining sand dunes.
Hawn and Russell, whose main residence is in Los Angeles, first put 30802 Broad Beach Road on the market in 2007 but it failed to sell. They subsequently sought $95,000 a month for it on the rental market and then $80,000 a month in 2010. In July 2011, the house was again put up for sale at $14,749,000 and now, after having failed to sell yet again, some $5,000,000 has been sliced from the price and it is available for $9,950,000.
The garden of 30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu 
The property enjoys direct access onto Broad Beach Hawn was once quoted as saying:
“I noted that people are happy here in India. When I went back home, people had everything in the materialistic sense and were surrounded with abundance, but they were not happy.”
I am sure she and her husband will be a hell of a lot happier when they finally manage to offload this white elephant. For a start, they’ll no longer need a housesitter to mind it.
30802 Broad Beach Road, Malibu, California, CA 90265 is available through Kimberley Pfeiffer of Coldwell Banker. She can be contacted on +1 (310) 867 0033 or +1 (310) 383 3664.
For more information, go to: http://www.trulia.com/property/3096152315-30802-Broad-Beach-Rd-Malibu-CA-90265Follow Goldie Hawn on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/goldiehawn
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Cycling with a Smile
Former Emmerdale bad boy Lyndon Ogbourne updates readers of The Steeple Times on his cycle expedition for Once Upon a Smile
Part One:
I begin this section of my travel journal, sat Bear Gryls style, next to a campfire I’ve successfully made, cooking a fish I’ve caught (with much difficulty) that I plan to serve with some bread from a boulangerie about 110km from where I’ve set up camp.
Lyndon Ogbourne cycling through the French countryside 
Ogbourne’s Cadence Performance bicycle is given a well earned rest I’m exhausted but exhilarated. The journey I set out on 5 days ago has taken me through some of the most beautiful but challenging sections of country I’ve ever experienced. I’m a novice cyclist but with the help of the Cadence Performance Centre I trained for the distances I would cover. Nothing, however, could prepare me for the scorching temperatures I have experienced. They would have been fantastic sat chilling on a beach, but are an added and detrimental element to a 635-mile cycle challenge.
The structure of my cycling expedition has been loose and spontaneous and as long as I cover a minimum of 100km day, I’ll make it to the airport in time for my scheduled flight. The rest is an adventurous ‘play-it-by-ear’ set up.
Part Two: Toulon
My legs are tight and bruised and battered from a fall near Castelnaudary when I was outfoxed by a tree stump on the path. Ahead of me, though, was the greatest challenge of all, the mountainous terrain between Marseilles and Toulon. There I encountered 136km of mountain range, with 8km ascents dappled with 3km climbs just to stick the knife in.
I arrived in Toulon a broken man. The beautiful views of Marseilles were awe inspiring, but the mountains I have just covered were nearly my undoing. I write this second section sprawled like a rag doll on my bed in a rustic but somewhat dingy B&B in Toulon.
I have never challenged myself like this before and my whole being tingles with a feeling beyond pain. My mind, however, is filled with memories that I will treasure forever and, if it ever recovers, my body will grow stronger.
Tomorrow, I venture on, edging ever closer to the final leg of this mammoth challenge. Today, I saw a sign to Nice and the energy and endorphin rush it produced inside me made me feel I should cycle there tonight. Luckily common sense prevailed and I realised rest was required.
My trusty steed, the bike that has accompanied me on this challenge, has become very dear to me. It is an incredible piece of carbon fibre mastery and the only way I am here in Toulon is because of this bike. Cadence have created a piece of kit that is so advanced and beautiful that at every destination I have been stopped by people from every region to ask about it or to comment on its splendour.
Lyndon Ogbourne training with the Cadence Performance team It’s in part due to the training and equipment that I’ve come this far, but now it’s down to me and my weary body to complete this task. Please donate to the fantastic charity Once Upon a Smile, whom I’m raising money for, via the link below. Equally, may I suggest, if you are thinking of purchasing or training yourself up for a cycle of any distance, you could be in no better hands that those of Cadence Cycle Performance Centre.
For now I must sleep as I still have 100-miles to cover. I feel my legs may walk out on me if I don’t give them the rest the deserve. Bonne nuit and happy cycling.
Once Upon a Smile: http://www.onceuponasmile.org.uk
Cadence Performance: http://www.cadenceperformance.com
To donate, go to: http://www.justgiving.com/Lyndon-Ogbourne
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Tippi Hedren (born Nathalie Kay Hedren)
Discovered by Alfred Hitchcock, this thrice married actress endured five days of prop men throwing live gulls, ravens and crows at her in her debut film, The Birds. Cary Grant told her: “I think you’re the bravest lady I’ve ever met.” She worked with Hitchcock next on Marnie but then decided she didn’t wish to continue. Afterwards, she commented: “He told me he would ruin my career and he did.” Hedren, whose daughter is Melanie Griffith, now runs the Shambala Preserve in Acton, California. Here she keeps lions that have previously belonged to Anton LaVey and Michael Jackson. -
An interview with Lyndon Ogbourne
Claire Rubinstein interviews Lyndon Ogbourne for “The Steeple Times”
Last week, Claire Rubinstein made Emmerdale fans envious when she interviewed the soap’s former baddest boy at Sette restaurant in Chelsea.
Over lunch, the pair chatted about Ogbourne’s career, charity, social media and forthcoming projects. Watch video footage of the interview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tncDQkCxgsY
As you’ll see, there’s a lot more to come from Mr Ogbourne.
View Lyndon Ogbourne’s show reel at: http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/lyndon-ogbourne
Support Lyndon Ogbourne’s cycle fundraiser for Once Upon A Smile at: http://www.justgiving.com/lyndon-ogbourne
Sette, 4 Sydney Street, London, SW3 6PP. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7352 3435. Website: http://sette-restaurant.com
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Virginia McKenna OBE
This British actress is best known for playing Joy Adamson in the true-life film Born Free alongside her real-life husband, Bill Travers (1957 – 1994). She’s also starred in the Ring of Bright Water, The Camomile Lawn and Swallows and Amazons but it is for her work as a wildlife campaigner that McKenna is best known. She co-founded the Born Free Foundation in 1991 with her husband and along with Ace Bourke and John Rendall helped release Christian, a lion who lived at World’s End in Chelsea, into the wild in Africa. His story has since become one of YouTube’s biggest hits. -
Helen Worth (born Cathryn Helen Wigglesworth and also known as "Gail Platt")
Raised in Morecambe, Lancashire at a seafront hotel, Worth has played Coronation Street’s Gail Platt since 1974. This former wife of the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, Michael Angelis, lives between Cheshire and Chelsea and when not acting she’s often to be found campaigning for the Born Free Foundation. -
William Roache MBE (better known as Ken Barlow)
“Cock Roache” as he’s known (he’s supposedly bedded over 1,000 women) has been in Coronation Street since December 1960. He’s the world’s longest serving television actor and is also on the board of directors of Owen Oyston’s Oystons Estate Agency. -
Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff is a titan of the stage and a might with a pen. He’s best known for playing the darkest of characters but in reality he’s charm personified. Berkoff beat Julie Burchill in a libel case in 1996 and finds it “flattering” to play evil characters. He lives on the river in a converted warehouse in Limehouse with his delightful partner, the Danish pianist Clara Fischer, and often sports the snazziest loafers in town.
