‘Bulldog’ Bites on $3 M Estate

Dodgers pitcher OREL HERSHISER has purchased a $3.3-million home on about two acres in Pasadena, and he is refurbishing it before moving there with his family.

Nicknamed “Bulldog” soon after he was selected by the Dodgers in a free agent draft in 1979, Hershiser, 34, won the National League Cy Young Award in 1988.

Hershiser led the Dodger staff last year with 210.2 innings pitched. It was the sixth time in his nine-year, major-league career that he pitched 200 or more innings in a season.

It was also the second year of Hershiser’s comeback from unprecedented shoulder surgery for an injury that had prompted doctors to say that he might never pitch again.

In 1991 he was named the “UPI Comeback Player-of-the-Year.”

Active in church and charitable activities, he volunteers his time for Five Acres Home for Abused Children, and he and his wife, Jamie, chair the annual Dodger Fashion Show to help raise funds to fight Cystic Fibrosis. The couple has two sons, ages 4 and 8.

Their new home, a Monterey Colonial, has five bedrooms in slightly more than 9,000 square feet, and it has a pool. The estate, which had been owned by the same couple for the past 30 years, had been listed last September at $4.65 million. The most recent asking price was $3.85 million.

The home had been listed by Kim Atkinson-Melin of Rodeo Realty/San Marino.

JONATHAN LYNN, who directed “My Cousin Vinny” and Eddie Murphy’s “The Distinguished Gentleman,” and his wife, Rita, have purchased a restored Spanish-style home, built in the flats of Beverly Hills in the 1920s, for a bit more than $2 million.

Lynn, who will direct the comedy film “Greed” (starring Michael J. Fox) when it starts filming in June, came here from Great Britain about 10 years ago. He also directed the long-running BBC series “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister,” which later aired on A&E; and PBS.

The Lynns bought a home with four bedrooms and staff quarters in about 5,000 square feet. The home also has hand-carved floors and hand-painted beamed ceilings.

Their former home--a 1930s, Mediterranean-style place that is for sale at $1.2 million--is on a private knoll behind gates, above Sunset Strip. The home has a master bedroom with a cathedral ceiling and a sitting area with views from downtown L.A. to the ocean.

“Their new home is a much larger version of this home, which also has a pool and waterfall,” said listing broker Donelle Dadigan of her newly opened firm, Prime Properties of Beverly Hills. Dadigan also handled both sides of the Lynns’ purchase.

EDWARD PRESSMAN, who produced the Jack Nicholson film “Hoffa” and the upcoming movie “The Crow,” has purchased a four-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot home in Santa Monica for about $3.4 million, public records show. The asking price had been $3.95 million.

Actor Brandon Lee was killed March 31 on “The Crow” set. As a result, there is some uncertainty about its release, according to a spokesman for the production company last week. “The Crow” was the second in a three-picture deal expected to bring Lee stardom similar to that of his father, Bruce, 20 years ago.

Pressman’s new home was built in 1924 and was last remodeled in 1955. The eight-room home, with a guest house, is on one of the best residential streets in Santa Monica.

EZIO GREGGIO, who appeared in the Italian movies “Vacance di Natale” and “Yuppies,” has leased a 6,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home at $10,000 a month until at least September to oversee filming and post production of his film “Silence of the Hams.”

Greggio will star in the black comedy, direct it from his original screenplay, and co-produce it, with filming beginning in May.

“Silence of the Hams,” a spoof of “Silence of the Lambs” and “Psycho,” also will star Shelley Winters, Charlene Tilden, Dom De Luise, John Astin and Martin Balsam. Greggio will play a role similar to the Norman Bates character in “Psycho,” played by the late Tony Perkins.

Greggio, whose primary residence is in Milan, will live in the Beverly Hills home with his wife, Isabele, and their 2-year-old son.

A lake view home that is on the market at $10.5 million is believed to be the most expensive private residence ever listed for sale at Lake Arrowhead.

Known as “Totem Pole Point,” the 18,000-square-foot estate is on a peninsula that was used before World War II as a backdrop for such films as “River’s End” (1930).

The main residence has nine bedrooms, including a 2,000-square-foot master suite. There is also a library wing, gatehouse and a boat dock. The price includes furnishings.

The home was a project of local residents Bob and Jean Long, who completed it in 1991. Karen Cerwin of Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty in Lake Arrowhead has the listing.