She’s Just Mad About View

HELEN HUNT, co-star of the NBC sitcom “Mad About You,” and her companion of five years, actor HANK AZARIA, have purchased a large home site north of Beverly Hills for close to its $2.5-million asking price, San Fernando Valley sources say.

Hunt, who also starred as a scientist chasing tornadoes across the Midwest in the 1996 action movie “Twister,” and Azaria, who stars as a bumbling detective in the 1997 dark comedy “Grosse Pointe Blank,” are expected to build a house on the gated view lot.

Hunt, who turns 34 today, has co-starred with Paul Reiser in “Mad About You” since it began airing in 1994. She was a child actress who played the daughter of Murray Slaughter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Hunt will appear with Jack Nicholson in “Old Friends,” due out in December.

Azaria, 33, played Robin Williams’ gay houseboy in the 1996 comedy “The Birdcage,” and he has had a recurring role on “Mad About You” as Nat, the dog walker. He will co-star with Gwyneth Paltrow in “Great Expectations,” due to be released this fall.

BARBRA STREISAND has sold the Beverly Hills-area house she has owned since 1989 for nearly its $4.9-million asking price.

The Oscar-winning actress was leasing the house to Stephen Stills of the rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. Stills was leasing it before Streisand bought it from British actor Richard Harris for $5.5 million, sources have said. Streisand listed it in May 1996.

Built in the late 1930s for pioneer filmmaker King Vidor, the five-bedroom, nearly 8,000-square-foot home is on about six acres on a promontory with city views. Other former owners include singer-songwriter Mac Davis and Broadway composer-lyricist Jerry Herman.

Streisand, 55, has a compound in Malibu, which she bought in 1995, and a home in Holmby Hills, which she has owned for 18 years but listed in March at $7.5 million.

Streisand was represented in the Beverly Hills-area sale by Joe Babajian and Mindy Williamson, both of Fred Sands Estates, Beverly Hills. They also have Streisand’s Holmby Hills listing.

The buyer, described as a businessman from London, was represented by Jeff Hyland of Alvarez, Hyland & Young, Beverly Hills.

JOEL SILVER, co-producer of the Robin Williams-Billy Crystal movie “Father’s Day,” has purchased four acres of land in Brentwood for about $3 million, sources have said.

The gated property has mature trees and canyon views. Silver, who has a home in Hollywood, is expected to build on the site.

Silver, 44, has produced such action-adventure movies as the “Lethal Weapon” series and the first two “Die Hard” films. He also co-produced the 1996 “Tales From the Crypt” movie and its HBO series. He made his feature acting debut in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), playing a director who yells at Roger for flubbing a line.

DANIEL WATERS, who wrote the screenplays for “Batman Returns” (1992) and “Demolition Man” (1993), has purchased a former longtime home of the late film genius Orson Welles for just under its $1.2-million asking price, industry sources say.

Waters, 33, moved to L.A. in 1986 after graduating from McGill University in Montreal, and he subsequently wrote “Heathers” (1989) and “Hudson Hawk” (1991).

Welles, who died in 1985 at age 70 in the Hollywood home, was the star, writer and producer of the classic “Citizen Kane” (1940), and he panicked the nation in 1938 with his newscast-style radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’ science fiction fantasy “War of the Worlds.”

Welles had lived in the home for about 15 years, sources said. The Colonial-style estate has a 5,000-square-foot main house, two guest houses and a pool, all behind walls and gates.

Built in 1906, the home was restored recently by its seller, Timothy Enright, president of the Los Angeles-based real estate company the Enright Co. He had owned the estate since 1993.

RAYMOND SILLER, head writer for “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” for 15 years, has sold his Pacific Palisades home for about its $900,000 asking price, according to real estate sources.

In recent years, Siller, a 22-year resident of the Palisades, has been spending most of his time in New York, where he maintains an apartment.

Siller, in his 50s, has written for Bob Hope, Dick Cavett and three U.S. presidents, including Nixon, Reagan and Bush. He’s currently in New York, preparing a memoir about his Brooklyn childhood.

Siller’s 2,200-square-foot ranch-style house, built in 1947, has three bedrooms, a den and a Santa Monica Bay view.

K.C. Soll of John Aaroe & Associates, Brentwood Gardens office, had the listing; Steve Sawai of the Prudential-Jon Douglas, Brentwood, represented the buyers.

A Victorian house in San Francisco that is featured on Brooke Shields’ NBC sitcom “Suddenly Susan” has come on the market at $1.75 million.

“You might say Susan slept here, but so did Lana,” said Cheryl Crane, daughter of late actress Lana Turner.

Crane and her mother lived next door to the Queen Anne-style house when they became friends of the owners. After Turner moved, she often stayed as a guest in the Victorian house and stored some of her memorabilia there.

The owners, a cookbook author and a psychologist, now own a house next door to Crane’s in Palm Springs.

The San Francisco house has five bedrooms, a music room, elevator and Lafayette Park and city views. It was built in 1885 and renovated through the years.

Crane at Classic Homes, Palm Springs, and Joel Goodrich at Fred Sands’ City Properties, San Francisco, share the listing.