Whitley Heights 101

6740 Milner Road

6740 Milner Road is another property that was purchased by developer Arthur Watson and designed by architect Harry McAfee. Watson had bought several parcels of land in Whitley Heights and then sold the new homes: 2058 Watsonia Terrace (1924), 2059 Watsonia Terrace (1924), 6708 Milner Road (1926), and this property. This 2,915 square foot, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home has all the characteristics that McAfee used to design his homes: multi-levels, irregular roof, and multiple patio areas. Announced in 1928 that this home was built for screenwriter Lenore Coffee and her husband, screenwriter and director William J. Cowen. Coffee gave birth to her son in this home in 1930.

Lenore Coffee was part of 86 screenplays between 1919 and 1969 and was known for: Squaw Man (1931) with Baxter Warner and Lupe Velez, a western, Four Daughters (1938), Night Court (1932), and The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947). Coffee began her career after replying to an advertising campaign launched by actress Clara Kimball Young, who was on the lookout for better scripts. Coffee won the competition and sold her the screenplay for The Better Wife (1919) for $100. Shortly after, she was offered a one-year Hollywood contract.

Coffee was under contract to MGM from 1929 to 1936. She left in 1937, following a dispute over her salary. She then worked for Warner Brothers, where she remained until 1944. Either as writer or co-writer, Coffee shared responsibility for the box-office success of two Bette Davis movies: The Great Lie (1941) and Old Acquaintance (1943). Although her work during the 1950’s was less distinguished, she had further hits with the suspense thriller, Sudden Fear (1952) and the musical romance, Young at Heart (1954).

Coffee’s husband was the novelist William J. Cowen, whom she had met while working on the script for The Volga Boatman (1926) for Cecil B. DeMille (Cowen was one of DeMille’s assistants). Cowen served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I and achieved the rank of lieutenant. He was wounded three times during the course of the war. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the battle of Cambrai, 20 November 1917. Badly wounded, he was still able to command his troup and captured six prisoners. After the war, he went to Russia, working for the United States government, where he was captured by the Bolsheviks, and sentenced to death for being a “spy, bourgeois and a speculator”. He was able to return back to the United States with the assistance of the federal government and wrote several war novels.

Cowen directed six movies between 1928-1934 including Oliver Twist in 1933. He also wrote six screenplays between 1931 and 1955, adaptations from his stories. Coffee and Cowen retired and moved to London where he died in 1964 at the age of 77. Coffee moved back to Hollywood and wrote her memoirs in 1973, entitled “Reflections of a Hollywood Screenwriter”. She died in 1984 at the age of 87.

Actress Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies) and her mother, Bertha resided on the property in 1940. The British stage actress worked on Broadway before Universal gave her a contract in and made her debut in Okay! America in 1932 and a small but noticeable part in Cavalcade (1933) as an optimistic honeymooner aboard the fateful S.S. Titanic. Warner Brothers then picked up her option and began featuring her opposite such A-list stars as Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., George Arliss and Humphrey Bogart. The studio had her work as a second-lead to Bette Davis in the films, Fog Over Frisco (1934) and Bordertown (1935) and supported Davis in both of her Oscar-winning “Best Actress” pictures — Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938).

In the 1940s, she replenished her film resume with secondary ladylike roles behind Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street (1945), Lana Turner in Cass Timberlane (1947) and Barbara Stanwyck in B.F.’s Daughter (1948). Following one of her best roles as Hepzibah in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables (1940), Margaret signed up with Columbia in the recurring “Ellery Queen” series as mystery writer Nikki Porter. Her final film was as Nurse Colman in Tammy and the Doctor (1963) with Sandra Dee. One of Margaret’s sisters, Jane Gilbert was briefly an actress in the late 1930s-early ’40s and was once married to Perry Mason (1957) co-star William Hopper. Margaret never married in real life but remained close to her family. Her dating companions were typically “safe” stars such as Cesar Romero, Richard Deacon, and even Liberace. For much of her time in Hollywood, Margaret shared a home with her sister. She died at age 70 in Los Angeles of emphysema in 1981.

Actress Irene Tedrow and her husband, William Kent, resided at 6740 Milner Road from 1948-1958. Tedrow acted in over 200 minor roles, mostly on television between 1940-1989. She was known for her roles on: Dragnet, Leave it to Beaver, Maverick, Lassie, Father of the Bride, The Real McCoys, Dennis the Menace, My 3 Sons, Peyton Place, Family Affair, Bonanza, 6 Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, Charlie’s Angels, Rockford Files, Three’s Company, The Facts of Life, and L.A. Law.

Tedrow is probably best remembered as the kindly Mrs. Elkins who appeared occasionally on the Dennis the Menace (1959) sitcom. She also continued to work in theater productions. Tedrow died of a stroke in 1989 at the age of 87 in her North Hollywood home.

In the 1980’s screenwriter and producer, Roman Coppola purchased the property and now rents out the home. The photographs are currently how the home is furnished when the home is rented out. Coppola has added a unique style to the home, with a laundry room that has been converted into a speakeasy, a vintage arcade table, a wood-paneled den with an upright piano and pinball machine, and a kitchen with a 1940’s Streamline Moderne diner look with curvilinear, metal trimmed butter yellow cabinets and strips of neon along the ceiling. The master suite is reminiscent of a luxurious 1930’s ocean liner with a fireplace set into a curved wall, a cedar lined walk-in closet, a vintage tiled bathroom, and a small adjoining room that can be used as a reading room or nursery.

Coppola has a long list of family members who have been involved in the entertainment industry: director Francis Ford Coppola (father), actress Talia Shire (aunt), producer/actor Gian-Carlo Coppola (brother, deceased), filmmaker/former actress Sofia Coppola (sister), composer Carmen Coppola (grandfather, deceased), filmmaker Eleanor Coppola (mother), filmmaker/director Gia Coppola (niece), and actor Nicolas Cage (cousin). At one time, Sofia lived across the street at 6747 Milner Road; Gia Coppola and her mother, Jacqueline Getty lived at 2034 Grace Avenue (see previous post).

Roman has directed over 50 music videos since 1991 with Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, The Strokes, Green Day, Moby, Fatboy Slim, and Matthew Sweet. He has also produced such films as Rumble Fish (1983), The Bling Ring (2013), and 40 episodes of Mozart in the Jungle (2014-2018). In 1972, Roman appeared in his father’s production of The Godfather as a boy on the street who attended the funeral.