‘Gotti’ Producer Seeks Sale of Lavish Bel Air Villa

High-powered personal injury attorney turned prolific B-movie producer Vance Owen has put an $8 million price on an extravagantly appointed pan-European villa set behind a verdant wall of hedging in L.A.’s ultra-posh Bel Air community. The property is available though Billy Dolan at Carolwood Estates.

Known among his Spanish-speaking legal client as “El Abogado Güero,” The Mexico-born Owen has dozens of credits as a film and television producer, including the 2018 biopic “Gotti,” which was a spectacular failure, and several of Bruce Willis’ last films, including the unfavorably received “Fortress” (and its even less successful sequel), along with last year’s dud “Wrong Place.”

Purchased by the multidisciplinary legal eagle and entrepreneur about four years ago for $6.85 million, the 8,000-square-foot home sits on almost an acre of land, much of which is comprised of an unusable slope that makes a vertiginous rise behind the house. Inside the imposing security gates, opulence and extravagance reign, from the carefully clipped spiral cypress trees planted in stone urns that flank the front door, to the marble staircase with its floridly curlicued wrought iron railing, to the champagne-hued brocade wallpaper in the formal dining room.

Other highlights include: a spacious formal living room with fireplace; a family room with fireplace, wet bar and French doors to the backyard; a stately library lined in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves; a gourmet kitchen expensively updated with custom wood cabinetry and premium quality culinary equipment.

The swanky abode’s five all en suite bedrooms and six bathrooms include a staff suite on the main floor and a sumptuous second-floor primary suite that pampers the homeowner with a fireplace, sitting room, balcony, extensive closet space, and glitzy bathroom. Also upstairs is a second family room/media room.

Surrounded by high hedges, shaded by mature specimen trees and enlivened by brilliant sprays of bougainvillea, the grounds are faux-grassed for a drought tolerant ever-green look. There are several terraces and patios for al fresco dining and entertaining, as well as a built-in grill, an outdoor fireplace, a charming children’s playhouse and of course, a heated swimming pool and spa.

Tax records indicate Owen owns another, much more contemporary home cleaved to a precipitous slope above the Sunset Strip that he picked up in 2007 for $3.2 million from daytime chat show host Phil McGraw — it had been occupied by one of his sons — and now has in escrow to be sold with an asking price just shy of $4 million.