Nick Nolte Lists Quirky Malibu Compound

SELLER: Nick Nolte
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE: $8,250,000
SIZE: 6,006 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Accomplished but occasionally erratic acting three-time Oscar nominee Nick Nolte has listed a portion of his expansive, multi-acre Malibu, CA, compound with an asking price of $8,250,000.

Although Mister Nolte, now in his early 70s, remains a vital, steadily working actor with a half a dozen projects in post- or pre-production plus a 2011 Oscar nod for Warrior, the three-time Academy Award-nominee arguably reached his professional pinnacle in the 1990s with seminal roles in Affliction, The Prince of Tides, The Thin Red Line, Lorenzo's Oil, and Cape Fear. Sadly, the once hunky and devastatingly manly actor has become almost as well known in his sunset years for his sometimes eye-popping, Gary Bussey-like public appearances and occasional public tangles with heavy duty mood altering substances, such as in 2002 when Mister Nolte, then in his early sixties, was arrested for driving under the influence of what turned out to be GHB.

Property records show Mister Nolte purchased the just-over-two-acre estate in 1991 for an unknown amount of dough. An earlier discussion of the listing reveals the property was previously owned and/or occupied by Tommy Chong of bong-ed up Cheech & Chong fame, Don Felder of The Eagles and music producer David Foster whose fourth wife, Dutch model turned housewife Yolanda Foster, joined the cast for the most recent season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But we digress...

Listing information shows the main house—a two-story number of unrecognizable architectural vernacular originally built in the mid 1960s—measures 6,006 square feet and includes four bedrooms, four bathrooms, half a dozen carved wood and stone fireplaces and garage parking for up to six cars.

An olive tree flanked electronic gate slides open to a long black top drive that shoots across the lawn to a squat, flat-roofed porte cochere that sticks off the front of the house in a manner one might too easily associate with a low-cost hotel/motel for Your Mama's particular taste in porte cocheres.

Inside the mahogany front doors one is immediately—and aggressively confronted—with a cacophonous visual avalanche of various finish work a vast collection of East Asian furnishings that define the interior spaces and result in a sometimes semi-ceremonial decorative drama of Mexican telenovela proportions.

A giant pair of identical, angry-looking carved stone Chinese dogs stand sentinel at the muscular mahogany archway that separates the the onyx-floored foyer from the ballroom-scaled living room that has a soaring 19-foot ceiling pierced by six or eight skylights over head and the marble floors criss-crosses with wood inlay under foot. A fireplace nearly tall enough to stand in anchors the room lined on two walls with wide, mahogany-trimmed arched windows filled with garden vistas.

A sturdy, thickly spindled staircase climbs to a book shelf-lined landing and master suite (above) that is nothing if not extensive: big bedroom with vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; separate adjoining sitting room with mahogany-manteled fireplace and same vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; private office/study with built-in work desk, second and massive mahogany fireplace and more of the vaulted mahogany beamed ceiling; and, of course, a lavish private en suite situation.

In addition to the main house Mister Nolte's compound property includes a detached structure once used as a recording studio by at least one of the property's music oriented previous owner/occupants. The building was, at some point, converted to a capacious guest house with living room—the room with corner fireplace and guitars strewn all over the place in listing photos—two bedrooms, three bathrooms, at least one kitchenette and a built-in bar next to which Mister Nolte proudly parked a vintage motorcycle that—no doubt—has a meaningful story to tell.

The expansive but haphazardly landscaped and unfussily maintained grounds stretch out to just over two flat acres that include broad swathes of lawn sprinkled with mature corral, pine and sycamore trees. There's a lagoon-style freshwater swimming pool and spa surrounded by a slate stone terrace and a lighted tennis court tightly girdled by a wind-screen equipped chain link fence.

Mister Nolte also owns the adjacent property, a fenced, gated and bougainvillea-hedged 2.1+ acre mini-compound that encompasses a dense copse, terraced terraces, extensive cutting and kitchen gardens and at least two modestly-sized structures that appear to Your Mama to be residential in nature. It's not entirely clear from property records we peeped but it appears Mister Nolte acquired this particular part of his multi-parcel compound in August 1982 for $575,000 but, honestly puppies, we're not entirely sure that's accurate. The property is not currently on the market and, so the story goes, Mister Nolte will downsize into this property when he vacates the one one currently for sale next door.

listing photos: Westside Estate Agency