In Bel-Air, an actress’ one-of-a-kind compound lists for $49.5 million
The Bel-Air Country Club golf course offers peace in a jam-packed city, replacing busy streets and loud cars with pristine stretches of grass. Homes along the fairway naturally tend to fetch higher prices, and in one section, the course wraps around a cul-de-sac of homes, creating an “island” of luxury mansions in the middle of Bel-Air.
One of those exclusive properties belongs to real estate magnate Howard Ruby and his late wife, actress Yvette Mimieux. It just hit the market for $49.5 million.
The couple have owned the prized compound for decades, and the listing arrives a few months after Mimieux, star of the 1960 film “The Time Machine,” died at 80.
Dubbed “Il Sogno — Italian for “the dream” — the estate spans 1.5 acres and combines two houses and two pools across two lots. There’s a 10,600-square-foot Tuscan-style villa loaded with dramatic spaces, as well as a 4,900-square-foot Balinese-style cottage filled with art.
Everything is formal in the villa, from the hand-painted ceilings in the foyer to the painted skylight in the library. Other highlights include antique plaster walls, stone-carved fireplaces, glass ceilings, a brick wine cellar and primary suite under a crystal chandelier and hand-painted dome.
The cottage carries a more bohemian style with bold colors, loads of landscaping and angled skylights to brighten the space. It expands to a wraparound terrace, where lounges overlook the leafy grounds complete with lawns, gardens, statues and two swimming pools. The exotic exterior also add a cabana and lanai with hand-painted walls and a fireplace.
Linda May of Hilton & Hyland, Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency and Jade Mills of Coldwell Banker Realty hold the listing.
Ruby is the founder of Oakwood Worldwide, an L.A.-based real estate company that provides temporary furnished apartments.
Mimieux, an L.A. native, gained fame for her role in the science fiction film “The Time Machine,” and her other credits include “Where the Boys Are” and “Light in the Piazza.”
