November 7, 2023

Robin Williams’ longtime San Francisco home has been listed by his former wife for $25 million (Photos)

Sylvester November 7, 2023

Beloved funnyman Robin Williamsgot his start with a scholarship to the Julliard School, where he pursued an unconventional style and amazed his teachers with an uncanny talent for accents. After getting rave reviews for his early stage roles, he left the staid classical institution and moved to the West Coast to pursue a career in stand-up comedy. Scoring a role as the alien Mork on TV’s Mork and Mindycatapulted him into Hollywood, where he would go on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting, plus six Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and five Grammy Awards. He was especially adored by children after starring as the Genie in Aladdin, Peter Pan in Hook, and a loving if eccentric father in Mrs. Doubtfire among many family film roles. Suffering from degenerative brain disease, he took his own life in 2014.

Marsha Garces Williams, the actor’s second wife and mother of two of his children – including actress Zelda Williams – has listed the San Francisco home where the couple lived from the early ‘90s until 2010 for sale at $25 million. Styled like an Italian Renaissance Villa, the home was built in 1926 and extensively remodeled by Robin and Marsha, who took the property down to the studs but preserved the unique and irreplaceable building materials of the original home. Fully walled and gated, the property offers stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, and the San Francisco Bay.

With an elegant marble facade, terra-cotta roof, columned archways, and wrought-iron details, the estate projects an image of timeless luxury. Extensive windows bathe the wide-plank hardwood floors and high-beam ceilings in natural light. A central staircase connects the three stories of the 10,598-square-foot home. Capping the mansion’s twenty rooms, the primary suite offers sweeping panoramic sea views, a Japanese-style bathroom, a private balcony, and a safe room hidden behind a paneled wall. Another secret panel in the billiards room opens to reveal a Prohibition-era bar, while a secret passageway connects the bedrooms in which the Williams children grew up. Other special features include a spacious movie theatre with drop-down projector, a kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances including a La Cornue range, a butler’s pantry with wet bar, a gym and sauna, a whiskey room, a wine cellar, and a one-bedroom guest apartment with its own entrance. A tiled patio, a firepit, an outdoor BBQ and lovely gardens complete the estate.

Sea Cliff is one of San Francisco’s most beautiful neighborhoods, known for its large mansions and spectacular views. The Williams estate is located just minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio of San Francisco with 1,500 acres of hiking trails, two beaches, The Legion of Honor Museum, and the historic Lincoln Park Golf Course. Other illustrious residents include Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The listing is held by Steve Mavromihalis at Compass Nor Cal. Photo Credit: Open House.

MGM+ Greenlights True-Crime Docuseries ‘The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood’

Sylvester November 7, 2023

MGM+, a premium linear channel and streaming service, today announced it has greenlit the true-crime docuseries The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood (working title), based on Michael Connelly’s (Bosch; The Lincoln Lawyer) hit Audible podcastof the same name. Directed by Alison Ellwood (San Francisco Sounds, Laurel Canyon), the four-episode docuseries will be the definitive examination of the infamous Wonderland murder case in 1980s Los Angeles. The Wonderland Murders & the Secret History of Hollywoodwas released exclusively on Audible as a limited documentary podcast series and audiences have spent 150,000 hours listening to Connelly’s riveting investigation.

On July 1, 1981, four people were discovered severely beaten to death in a suburban home in Laurel Canyon on Wonderland Avenue. The murders’ aftermath spans two decades and reaches into present day with details, subplots, and investigative twists that prove the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction. From a bought-off juror to the biggest porn actor of his generation, an alleged corrupt federal agent and a kind of Zelig of Hollywood’s dark underbelly, much about the case remains unresolved, and there are people who got away with murder.

Through explosive in-depth reporting, new developments, rare archival footage, and pivotal testimony from “missing witness” Scott Thorson (best known as Liberace’s boyfriend and the writer of the tell-all Behind the Candelabra), Wonderland Murders will delve into the gruesome crime that has captured the public’s imagination for nearly half a century, and tell a broader story about Los Angeles, the American dream, and when justice does—and doesn’t—work. 

“Wonderland Murders joins MGM+’s growing stable of smart, insightful, and thought-provoking true-crime docuseries,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “Michael Connelly is a renowned and tenaciouscrime writer, and Alison Ellwood is a visionary director, so there is no better team to explore one of Hollywood’s most notorious crimes.”

“I love Alison’s work and look forward to working with her and MGM+,” said Michael Connelly. “The Wonderland murders left an indelible impact on Hollywood, and exploring it with the original detectives and witnesses is exciting, and is going to help us answer many of the questions that are still out there.”

“Michael has curated an exceptional slate at MGM+, and we are thrilled Wonderland Murders will be in such illustrious company,” said Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman, heads of Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC). “Alison is a filmmaker IPC has been chasing for years, and we feel incredibly fortunate we finally get to collaborate. Her take on Michael Connelly’s groundbreaking reporting will undoubtedly yield one the best true crime documentaries of the year.”

“It’s been one of the thrills of our professional lives to have worked with Michael Connelly over these past few years on the Wonderland podcast and now on the doc series,” said Jen Casey and Nick Gilhool. “And for the documentary adaptation to be led by Alison Ellwood, the consummate filmmaker, at a home like MGM+, with Michael Wright and Jill Burkhart, two of the best execs in the business, along with veteran storytellers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman, and not to mention Rick Jackson with his inimitable expertise and access. We couldn’t imagine a greater team to usher this bigger-than-life story to the screen.”

“The Wonderland Murders has all the qualities of a page-turning thriller that fans expect from Michael Connelly’s novels, except that it’s also a true story,” said Rachel Ghiazza, Chief Content Officer at Audible. “We could not be more excited to see this unforgettable and incredibly well-told storycome to life in a new format with the support of our Amazon colleagues at MGM+.”

The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) and Miziker Content, and executive produced by Michael Connelly, Alison Ellwood, Jen Casey and Nick Gilhool, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman for IPC, and Rick Jackson.