This “Valley of the Dolls” home was too colorful for “Pose” creator Ryan Murphy.
Murphy — the producer behind “Glee,” “American Horror Story” and “Ratched” — unloaded the Beverly Hills abode formerly owned by “Annie Hall” actress Diane Keaton for $16.25 million on April 22.
He had been trying to sell the home since before the coronavirus pandemic began, when he listed the house for nearly $18 million in September 2019.
The 55-year-old producer and his husband, David Miller, bought the house from Keaton in 2010. The couple, who married in 2012, purchased the 94-year-old estate under the “Ohara Neely Trust,” an LLC seemingly based on the “Valley of the Dolls” character Neely O’Hara.
“Its colorful tilework … provided instant cheer,” Murphy wrote last year in an Architectural Digest feature.
But when life became hectic — they now have three sons, 8-year-old Logan, 6-year-old Ford and 8-month-old Griffin — they wanted something less colorful, so they moved to a minimalistic house in Brentwood in 2013, Murphy wrote.
“I kept saying I wanted to feel like I was living in a bowl of miso soup,” he wrote. In addition to their Brentwood home, the pair own a New York City townhouse, and they recently sold a Laguna Beach home for $10.65 million.
Diane Keaton’s second chance
But Murphy’s preference for a bowl of miso soup doesn’t mean the house is gaudy.
It was designed by both New York designer Stephen Shadley and Keaton, who isn’t just an Oscar-winning actress — she’s also a home-flipper. She’s even sold her remodeled homes to stars such as Madonna.
Keaton considered buying the house when it went up for sale in 2002, but she got cold feet because “it needed a lot of work,” she told Architectural Digest in 2008. The house was originally built in 1927 by California architect Ralph Flewelling, according to the magazine. It was designed to mimic architectural designs by George Washington Smith and Wallace Neff, according to Keaton’s permit applications to the city.
An investor snapped up the house and redid the bathrooms and kitchen, added the courtyard fountain, replastered the pool, replaced the roof, repaved the driveway and added a new gate, according to city permit records.
Then, Emmy-winning journalist Paul Magers and his wife, Kathryn, purchased the house in 2003. They enjoyed the home’s outdoor spaces, upgrading the pool and the patio.
But Keaton got her second chance at the property when it went back up for sale in 2007 and purchased it under the name Diane Hall, a mash-up of her real name and her Oscar-winning “Annie Hall” character.
Keaton redid the kitchen, remodeled the facade and enclosed a patio, adding about 500 square feet to the house, according to city permit records, before selling it to Murphy in 2010.
The ins and outs: “The eye sees what the mind knows”
The square Spanish-revival mansion wraps around a brick inner courtyard with an octagonal fountain surrounded by statuettes, according to the Realtor.com listing.
The seven-bedroom, 7½-bathroom home spans almost 8,500 square feet over two levels. It has five Spanish-style fireplaces with arched and tiled fireboxes designed by Keaton, arched doorways and high beamed ceilings.
The foyer is combined with a library with dark wood shelving, detailed tiling and eye-catching lettering that reads, “THE EYE SEES WHAT THE MIND KNOWS” — an inscription installed by Keaton.
The main family room has a peaked wooden beam ceiling; hardwood floors; warm, circular hanging light fixtures and a gorgeous Spanish-style fireplace with an arched firebox.
The dining room has the same exposed, dark-wood ceiling paired with French doors leading to the courtyard.
The kitchen has marble counters, a double oven, double sinks, a kitchen island, a pantry and a breakfast nook. It opens to a hardwood-floor family room with French doors, white ceiling beams and a fireplace with an arched firebox.
The house also has an office, a den, a dressing room, a gym, a library, a living room, separate maid’s quarters, a study and a wine cellar.
The half-acre lot has a luxurious heated pool, plus a dining and seating area with walls of cacti. The lot also features a guest house, a two-car garage and a circular paved driveway.
Listing agent Kevin Augunas of Compass and buyer’s agent Crosby Doe of Crosby Doe Associates both declined to comment.
Murphy, who promised to create a college fund for late actress Naya Rivera’s son, is noted for his hit show “Glee” with screenwriter Ian Brennan and cast members Lea Michele and Dianna Agron.
More recently, Murphy’s portrayed discrimination faced by real-life stars, including Rock Hudson, in his Netflix miniseries “Hollywood,” and he worked with Sarah Paulson on projects including “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story” and “Ratched.”
