The secluded Beverly Hills home of English screenwriter James Dearden is not only available for purchase at just under $5.2 million — well below its initial asking price of not quite $6.8 million — it’s also being offered as a furnished luxury rental at a rate of $25,000 per month.
The Oscar-nominated “Fatal Attraction” screenwriter bought the property in 2007 for a bit less than $4.7 million and, according to listing agent Paul Czako at Gussman Czako Estates, many times over the past decade leased it to several A-list actors and actresses, an NBA All-Star player and a member of the house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia, not to mention a couple of Russian oligarchs. Tucked into a tiny, little-known cul-de-sac high above Benedict Canyon and all but invisible behind a line of mature trees and a riot of tropical foliage, the two-story European villa sits on almost three-quarters of an acre with five bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms in nearly 5,300-square-feet.
Polished, pale gray limestone floors run throughout the main floor living spaces that include a foyer with gracefully curved staircase, a dining room that easily seats 14, a red-walled library/media lounge with surround sound system and a vast living room where a wide bank of telescopic glass doors slides open to the swimming pool.
Equipped with two dishwashers and full-size side-by-side refrigerator/freezers, the center-island kitchen overlooks the living room and opens through French doors to an al fresco dining terrace with outdoor fireplace. All five bedrooms open to terraces or balconies and have en suite bathrooms. The oversized master suite has a fireplace, glass slider access to a huge terrace, a roomy walk-in closet and a luxurious bathroom with a soaking tub and oversized shower space.
Dearden and his wife, British actress Annabel Brooks, additionally maintain a sprawling walk-up apartment in New York City’s East Village as well as a country estate in Ireland and a house in London’s ritzy Notting Hill.
