Veteran entertainment news journalist and longtime “Entertainment Tonight” co-host Nancy O’Dell has sold her Pasadena mansion after less than a month on the market for a smidgen above $7 million. The former beauty queen — Miss South Carolina 1987 — realized a tidy profit on the opulently updated, 1931 Wallace Neff-designed Mediterranean villa she bought in May 2007 for $5.4 million. Tucked behind wrought iron gates and a high privacy wall, the main residence of the just shy of one-acre estate measures in at nearly 9,000 square feet with six en suite bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. A self-contained detached guesthouse provides additional living quarters.
Spanish tile floors that are original to the mansion flow from the slender entrance gallery into a spacious formal living room with fireplace and exposed wood ceiling as well as into an ample formal dining room that features a burnished carved-wood ceiling. A cavernous, double-height family room with wood-beamed ceiling and carved-stone fireplace is open to a huge kitchen and dining area with granite countertops on elaborately carved custom cabinets, a double-wide island and a secondary prep area for parties and catered events.
In addition to several guest rooms and a master suite replete with fireplace and lavish bathroom, the second floor includes a combination office and library with built-in desk space, a hand-painted rotunda ceiling in the circular library area and a wrought iron railing that overlooks the family room. A finished basement area contains a sprawling entertainment space with billiards area, wet bar, media lounge and wine cellar.
A brick-paved courtyard with vibrantly tiled fountain and built-in barbecue area adjoins an arched dining and lounging loggia with outdoor fireplace that overlooks a resort-style backyard with a swimming pool and spa surrounded by palm-dotted lawns bordered by flowering gardens.
listing photos: Coldwell Banker
