Whitley Heights 101

6615 Padre Terrace

Built in 1906 by actor Wilbur Higby, which was used as a rental. Higby and his family lived next door at 6612 Emmet Terrace. Higby also built and owned 6607 Padre Terrace. The Higby’s were fans of Whitley Heights as after Wilbur died, his daughter, actress Jane, moved across the street to 6611 Emmet Terrace (see previous posts). The home is one of the earliest homes built in the Whitley Heights section of Hollywood.

Rumor has it that actress Carmen Miranda rented this house for a short period of time. It is unclear the dates she may have lived in this house as she also resided in Beverly Hills, Encino, Palm Springs, and Los Feliz at one time. Carmen was born in Portugal in 1909 and her family moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil soon after her birth. After finishing school, Carmen got a job in a local store, where she started singing. RCA eventually signed her and she was dubbed “The Brazilian Bombshell”. Carmen continued to sing and started to act in movies after she moved to New York in 1939. She appeared in “Down Argentine Way” with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in 1940. Not only did audiences like her style of singing, her dress attire became one of the latest fads of the 1940s. Carmen met her husband, Dave Sebastian, the assistant producer of her 1947 film, “Copacabana”, whom she married the same year. They remained married until her death in 1955, in which she died of a heart attack in her Beverly Hills home. Carmen may have resided at 6615 Padre Terrace while filming one of her movies in the 1930s.

The early bungalow 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2,356 square foot home is currently for sale for $1.78 million. Between 1942-1946 actress Gloria Ann Simpson resided in the home. Simpson starred in 11 films between 1951 and 1956 (her death) and lived here prior to her acting roles with her husband, George Henry Simpson. Simpson can be seen on the 1956 episode “The Big Wish” on the tv show Dragnet and the 1957 movie, “The Heart Within”. She also appeared on numerous radio shows between 1947-55. Below, Simpson is starring in the 1955 movie, “The Tight Spot” with Edward G. Robinson, Lorne Greene, Ginger Rogers, and Peter Leeds.

Between 1948 and 1956, Malcolm Boyd lived here with his mother, Beatrice. Boyd was born in 1923 in Buffalo, New York, the son of Beatrice Lowrie, a fashion model, and Melville Boyd, a financier and investment banker whose own father (also named Malcolm) was an Episcopal priest. In the early 1930s Boyd’s parents divorced; his mother retained custody of him and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then to Denver. During his time in college, despite early spiritual interests, he decided he was an atheist. In the 1940s Boyd moved to Hollywood and rented a room in $15.00 a week boarding house on Franklin Avenue. He owned few possessions and only one shirt, but was eventually given a position at a large agency and became a Hollywood junior producer. Below, Boyd with with Mary Pickford in 1949.

In 1945, Boyd, who preferred to be called “Mal”, wrote the television movie, Dream, which aired live but was never taped. In 1947 he opened up a public relations business called Mal & Associates. His friends included Elizabeth Taylor, Gloria Swanson, Edgar Bergen and Charlie Chaplin Jr. In 1948, while out on the town with Charlie Chaplin Jr. on New Years Eve, Chaplin got into a car accident and was arrested for intoxication. Because he got out of the car before the police arrived, he was not arrested for DUI. Below is Chaplin, Jr. on the night of the arrest. He was arrested along with companion, William Hebert, movie publicity director, and released later of $50 bail.

In 1949: Mary Pickford, her husband Buddy Rogers and Malcolm Boyd formed PRB (Pickford-Rogers-Boyd), a radio and television production company based in New York City. At the same time, amidst all the abundance and glamor of Hollywood, he found himself looking for meaning in different places, including churches. In 1951 Boyd began studying to become a priest at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. He graduated in 1954 and was ordained a deacon. In 1955 he continued his studies abroad in England and Switzerland and returned to Los Angeles for ordination as a priest. During 1956 and 1957, Boyd studied further at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and wrote his first book, Crisis in Communication. In the 1960s Boyd became known as “the Espresso Priest” for his religiously themed poetry-reading sessions at the Hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, at the time of the San Francisco Renaissance poetry movement. Boyd recalled in an interview with The Lavender effect that the San Francisco Chronicle once called him “Marlon Brando in a collar,” due to his Hollywood connections and attractive appearance.

Boyd went on to become a minister in the American Civil Rights Movement, promoting integration and voting rights. He participated as one of the Freedom Riders in 1961. In 1963 Boyd attended an interfaith conference for racial integration in Chicago. Malcolm X referred to Boyd at the conference in his 1963 speech, “The Old Negro and the New Negro.” Boyd was also active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, leading demonstrations and teach-ins in protest of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1970, Boyd was among 17 antiwar protesters, which also included Daniel Berrigan, who were arrested for attempting to celebrate a “mass for peace” at The Pentagon. In 1977 Boyd came out of the closet, becoming one of the first prominent American clergymen to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality. In the 1980s Boyd met Mark Thompson, an author, journalist and activist. Boyd and Thompson were domestic partners for almost 30 years and were married in 2013. Boyd considered his partnership and marriage to Thompson to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of his life. They resided in the Silver Lake where Boyd died of pneumonia in 2015 at at the age of 91.

Actor Andrew Divoff (pictured below) and wife, Raissa, owned the property in 1992 and completed a basement, now turning the property to 2 stories. The basement would serve as two recording studios. Divoff starred in over 115 minor roles including; The A-Team, MacGyver, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Thirtysomething, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Air Force One, Nash Bridges, Walker, Texas Ranger, Jag, CSI: Miami, and Lost. Born in 1955 in Venezuela, He was born on July 2, 1955 in San Tomé, Venezuela. His father is Russian and his mother, who was born in Venezuela, is of Irish descent. He lived in Vilassar de Mar (in Spain) from 1973-77. Divoff can speak eight languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Catalan, Portuguese, and Russian. He used to speak Romanian but forgot the language when he had no one with whom to speak it. He also acted in The Hunt for Red October, Air Force One and Toy Soldiers. He previously married to his Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift (1990) co-star Raissa Danilova. She only starred in 6 minor roles including A-Team and Nixon.

Between 1993-94, Israeli journalist Yorham Kahana (1939-2021) lived at 6615 Padre Terrace. Kahana was a longtime member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that is behind the Golden Globe Awards. Kahana attended UCLA in the 1960s and at a UCLA party in 1961, he met Peggy, who would become his wife. They married a year later and began collaborating on educational films and film strips under the banner of Kahana Film Productions. Both continued at UCLA after completing their undergraduate studies, obtaining master’s degrees in film. He also earned a master’s degree in journalism.

Also in the 1990s, actor Adam Weisman lived at the residence. Adam Weisman was born in Los Angeles in 1986. He is now a casting associate and has worked on 10 television shows including Broke, Chicago Party Aunt and The Great North. Weisman previously acted in minor roles including; Mad About You, Roswell, Desperate Housewives, and the remake of Halloween in 2007.

As the property is an older home and somewhat “dated”, it still has many features of a bungalow style house and could be renovated into its original charm!