Whitley Heights 101

6660 Whitley Terrace

6660 Whitley Terrace was built in 1926 by architect Nathan L. Coleman for engineer DeWitt Reaburn who was living at 6680 Bonair Place while the home was being built. The home consists of three stories of 2,726 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms that sits on a downslope in Whitley Heights. The Spanish style home has a fireplace in the living room and the ground floor consisting of a basement. DeWitt designed Mulholland Drive in the 1920s.  His wife, Maude Lightfoot Reaburn was an artist and died in the home in 1928. Coleman was a well-known architect in Los Angeles during the 1920s and was responsible for designing other Whitley Heights homes: 6697 Whitley Terrace (1922), 2135 Whitley Avenue (1924), 6756 Milner Road (1925), 2064 Watsonia Terrace (1926), and 2074 Watsonia Terrace (1928). All of these residences are still in existence today. By 1932, Coleman left for Shanghai to volunteer for the Army for six years. Coleman returned to Hollywood in 1938 fleeing the conflict in China.

Reaburn owned the house until he sold it to actress Beulah Bondi in 1942. In 1930, Reaburn divided the large bedroom into two smaller bedrooms and rented out the home for the next twelve years. The first tenant to move into the home was actor Joseph Schildkraut. Schildkraut had just divorced his first wife, actress Elise Bartlett, and moved in with his father, former actor Rudolph Schildkraut. Rudolph, pictured below, was born in Turkey in 1982 and was an actor in the German Empire in the early silent era. He starred in several film dramas. His last European-made film was a biography of the German Zionism founder Theodor Herzl, in which he played Herb Schildt “The Struggling Israel.”.  In his last five years he appeared in several Hollywood productions. His most notable film, which raised his profile in America, was The King of Kings by Cecil B. DeMille (1927), in which he played the High Priest Caiaphas. His last film was in 1929 called Christina and starred Janet Gaynor. In 1930, Rudolph died in his home after he came home from the studio from having a heart attack; he was 68 years old. Interestingly, his son would die of a heart attack at the same age.

Joseph Schildkraut (1896-1964) was credited for 87 roles between 1915 to 1965 including; Show Boat (1929), opposite Laura LaPlante, Cleopatra (1934), starring Claudette Colbert, The Garden of Allah (1934), starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer, Marie Antoinette (1938), starring Norma Shearer, and his last role was in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). In 1938, Joseph won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Life of Emile Zola.

Joseph met his first wife, aspiring actress Elise Bartlett, during “Peer Gynt” (1923) on Broadway. Joseph actually proposed to her on the day he met her and married her the following week. The couple separated a few years later as Bartlett was an alcoholic and died at a young age due to an alcohol-related illness. During 1932, Joseph moved out of this house after meeting and marrying his second wife, Lillian Marie McKay; they remained married until 1962 when McKay died. In 1931, Joseph allowed actor Leo Lance to room in this house. Lance had two minor roles in: Manhattan Melodrama (1934) and Two Sinners (1935). Following his beloved second wife’s death in 1961, Joseph married one more time, in 1963, to a much younger woman named Leonora Rogers. Joseph died of a heart attack only months later at his New York City home on January 21, 1964. He was 68, almost the exact same age his father Rudolf was when he too suffered a fatal heart attack.

DeWitt Reaburn was 61 years old when he married 43 year old Laura Roberts in 1933; Roberts and her children were renters of the house. Laura had a daughter from a previous marriage named Dorothy. In 1926, the then 22 year old Dorothy married 31 year old Arthur “Frank” Foster. By 1929, Frank and Dorothy were estranged and Dorothy fled to Canada to get away from him. In July of 1929, the wealthy businessman and organizer of the Hollywood Polo Club was gunned down and killed on the street. A young 22 year old nurse named Helen “Beth” Taylor was with him and claimed two men came out and shot Foster and then fled in a stolen car. The “sheik bandits” threw the gun which was retrieved with no fingerprints on it; oddly, Foster’s apartment was ransacked. Taylor, pictured below with the chief of police, indicated they spent time in Foster’s apartment before leaving and entering his car. They were about the drive away when the stolen vehicle drove up alongside their car and one of the masked bandits held out a gun and told them to get out of the car. Then suddenly, the masked man with the gun, shot Foster and killed him. Dorothy had filed for divorce, but then stopped the proceedings because Frank was trying to get custody of their 2 1/2 year old daughter, Gay. Dorothy and Jack Roberts, Dorothy’s mother and brother, were living at 6660 Whitley Terrace when Foster was murdered. A year later, there was still no arrest for Foster’s murder. In 1940, Dorothy was back in Los Angeles and married to man who was 15 years older than she. They were living with DeWitt and Laura at 6660 Whitley Terrace that year.

On August 11, 1934, the Reaburn’s rented 6660 Whitley Terrace to actress Rosalind Russell and her husband, George. Russell (1907-1976) was credited for 58 roles between 1934 to 1972. Her most notable roles include: The Women (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), opposite Cary Grant, Auntie Mame (1958), and Gypsy (1962) with co-star Natalie Wood. For some time she was used in secondary roles and as a replacement threat to limit Myrna Loy’s salary demands. Russell tested five times for the role of Sylvia Fowler in The Women (1939) and finally was awarded the part because she knew she would be right for that role.

Her part of reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940), opposite Cary Grant, is when she met her future husband, Grant’s houseguest at the time. In her forties, she returned to the stage, touring “Bell, Book and Candle” in 1951 and winning a Tony Award for “Wonderful Town” in 1953. She refused to be placed in the Best Supporting Actress category when Columbia Pictures wanted to promote her for an Academy Award nomination for her role in Picnic (1955). Many felt she would have won had she cooperated. “Auntie Mame” kept her on Broadway for two years followed by the movie version.

Below is Russell at 6660 Whitley Terrace in 1936. However, according to the landlord, Mrs. Reaburn, Russell was a terrible tenant. Reaburn filed a civil suit against her in May of 1936. In court, Russell denied she did $368 worth of damage to the furnishings of the home she was renting at 6660 Whitley Terrace. Reaburn claimed Russell damaged rugs, dishes, and furniture and claimed dishes and silverware were missing. Furthermore, a bedspread was burned by a cigarette and a beautiful tropical tree on the patio died due to lack of care. Russell’s rent was $150 per month. Russell claimed the house was in that condition when she moved in. The suit was settled on May 16th and Russell had to only pay $22.80. After that, Reaburn raised the rent to $225 per month and advertised the house for rent.

In 1939, screenwriter John Taintor Foote rented the house for $250 per month. Foote was credited for 19 films between 1919 to 1974. His most notable films included; Kentucky (1938) starring Loretta Young, Broadway Serenade (1939) starring Jeanette MacDonald, The Mark of Zorro (1940) starring Tyrone Power, Notorious (1946) starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, and The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) starring Shirley Temple. Below, 6660 Whitley Terrace can be seen ahead circa 1930s when the retaining walls were being built around Whitley Heights.

According to the Movieland Directory, writer James Hilton rented this home in the 1940s. Hilton wrote several bestselling fiction books including; Lost Horizon, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and We Are Not Alone; which he wrote the screenplays for. In addition, Hilton (pictured below) won the 1943 Academy Award for Best Screenplay for Mrs. Miniver (1942) starring Greer Garson.

By May of 1942, actress Beulah Bondi was living in the home that she purchased from the Reaburns. Bondi had moved from Sherman Oaks after he mother died to 6754 Wedgewood Place in Whitley Heights (see below) in June of 1941. This property remains today (with some exterior changes).

Beulah Bondi /ˈbɒndi/ (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981) was an American character actress. Although she never married or had children, she often played eccentric mothers and later grandmothers and wives. She played supporting roles in several films during the 1930s, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played the mother of James Stewart in four films: Of Human Hearts, Vivacious Lady, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Although at her height in Hollywood from the 1930s until the 1950s, Bondi never retired, and she continued acting well into her later years, at the age of 87 winning an Emmy Award for her guest-star role on The Waltons in 1976. Bondi won two Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations, for The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) and Of Human Hearts (1938), and an Emmy Award in 1976 for her turn in the television program The Waltons (1972).

Beulah changed the spelling of her last name from Bondy to Bondi so the letters would all fit on one line for top billing on movie marquees. The “y” in Bondy was problematic since it would fall below the other letters and cause spacing issues. She actually starred in a movie with Rosalind Russell in Sister Kenny (1946).   When Bondi moved into 6660 Whitley Terrace, she reportedly hired a southern cook from West Virginia to move in with her. Columnist Besse Grant described the house as “a sanctuary for birds as well as her friends”. Actor Tab Hunter, who got close to her after they filmed a movie together would visit her on the hill. He remembered the house being filled with religious artifacts and old oak furniture. She collected elephants and made jam. Bondi lived here for 40 years until her death on January 11, 1981 when she tripped over her cat in the living room at the age of 91 and died from pulmonary complications caused by broken ribs.

Between 1987 and 1993 producer Syd Vinnedge lived at 6660 Whitley Terrace. Vinnedge produced The Price is Right between 2007 and 2009. He also produced Baywatch and America’s Top 10 with Casey Kasem.

Below, 6660 Whitley Terrace can be seen from the Roman Gardens Courtyard in the 1930s.