Whitley Heights 101

6760 Milner Road

6760 Milner Road was built in 1922 (as 6739 Milner Court) by architect Benjamin B. Horner, who also built several other homes in Whitley Heights. The Dutch Colonial home has also been listed as an English Country Cottage that has a total of 1,824 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. The sole permit was dated in 2011 to reroof the house, although when listed for sale, the advertisements indicated that house has been remodeled. The house sits on an upslope on Milner Drive with Whitley Terrace above (Barbara LaMarr’s former residence can be seen just above 6760 Milner to the right).

Musician Jack A King (1903-1943) resided at this property briefly in 1930 (he also resided at 6808 Whitley Terrace in 1930). King was a songwriter, composer, pianist, and singer during the 1920s and 1930s. Educated at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France and in private music study with E. Enna, Gabrilovitsch, Camille Decreus, Bejamin Fabian, Ernest Schilling, and Isidore Philippe, King made his debut as a child concert pianist in 1910 and gave piano concerts until 1921. His European debut was in Berlin, and between 1921 and 1923 he was the assistant director of the University of California Glee Club. He was also a singing coach and appeared in vaudeville and night clubs. Joining ASCAP in 1935, his other popular-song compositions include “Any Time’s the Time to Fall in Love”, “Everything’s Been Done Before”, “I’m True to the Navy Now”, “You Still Belong to Me”, “Live and Love Today”, and “All I Know Is You’re in My Arms.” King also wrote the score for several Marlene Dietrich pictures.

King never married or had children and lived primarily with his mother until his death at age 43:

Screenwriter and producer Daniel V DeVincentis rented 6760 Milner Road in 1995. DeVincentis co-wrote two of his Chicago childhood pal, John Cusack’s films: Gross Point Blank (2007) and High Fidelity (2000). He met his ex-wife, Natasha Gregson Wagner (Natalie Wood’s daughter) on the set of High Fidelity and was married to her from 2003 to 2008.

DeVincentis was also an executive producer for American Crime Story “The People vs. O.J. Simpson” in 2016 in which he also wrote three of the episodes. DeVincentis started his career as an actor in 1986 in which he had a minor role in Micheal Keaton’s “Touch and Go”. He then got minor roles in television shows such as Crime Story (1986), The Larry Sanders Show (1993), and Moon over Miami (1993). His most recent job was executive producer and writer of the mini television series “Pam and Tommy”, which followed the relationship of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson (2022).