Westside home with ties to Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe asks $20 million

By Neal J. Leitereg

June 2, 2016 9:26 AM PT

A Pacific Palisades home where British stage and film actor Charles Laughton and his wife, actress Elsa Lanchester, lived during the 1940s is up for sale at $19.995 million.

Laughton and Lanchester bought the Mediterranean-style estate in 1941 and used the property to host acting classes for a number of years. Shelley Winters and Marilyn Monroe were among those said to have participated in the workshops hosted in a theater, now outfitted as a media room. Laughton and Monroe would later appear together in the 1952 film “O. Henry’s Full House.”

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Silent-film comic Charlie Chaplin was a frequent guest of the couple, who sold the property in 1949.

Set on the bluffs of the Huntington Palisades, the 1930s home sits behind gates and has views extending down the coastline to Rancho Palos Verdes and up to Malibu.

Inside, living spaces awash in soothing tones feature walls of French doors, leaded-glass windows, modern fixtures and delicate wainscoting throughout. Formal living and dining rooms, an updated kitchen and a den lie within 8,885 square feet of space. A lower-level lounge has a step-up wet bar, a theater and a safe room.

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The master suite, with a fireplace, two walk-in closets and an oversized master bathroom, opens to a veranda overlooking the ocean. There are six bedrooms and eight bathrooms in all.

Various patios, verdant gardens, lawns and mature trees fill the more than half-acre site. A large brick motor court sits off the front of the home.

Christopher Damon and Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage are the listing agents.

Laughton, who died in 1962 at 63, won an Academy Award for best actor for his portrayal of King Henry VIII in 1933 film “The Private Life of King Henry VIII.” ”Mutiny on the Bounty” (1936), “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1939) and “The Man from Down Under” (1943) are among the actor’s other credits.

Lanchester, who died in 1986 at 84, is known for her role as the title character in “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935). She earned Oscar nominations for her roles in “Come to the Stable” (1949) and “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957).

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