A village-like estate long owned by the legendary Oscar-winning actor James Cagney has surfaced on the market in Beverly Hills for $38.5 million, almost 40 years after he passed away at age 86. Timothy Di Prizito and Aaron Kirman of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California hold the listing.
A versatile leading man famed for his performances in The Public Enemy, White Heat, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cagney built the property in the late 1930s and stayed there while filming but spent most of his time at his farms in upstate New York and on Martha’s Vineyard. Upon his death in 1986, the estate was inherited by his widow, Frances. She subsequently sold the place to the current owner, Steven Dunn, founder of the baby product company Munchkin, who undertook an extensive renovation, restoration, and update of the premises and later tacked on an adjacent parcel.

Two primary bedrooms share a luxe bath with a copper soaking tub.
Cristiano Cruzio
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Set just below the Franklin Canyon Nature Reserve on over five acres laced with hand-laid stone pathways, tiered citrus gardens, courtyards, stone walls, and European statuary, the gated spread includes a main villa, a guest residence known as the Boathouse, and a creative studio. Altogether, the Welton Becket-designed compound offers a total of seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms in roughly 10,700 square feet.
A spacious cobblestone motor court fronts the wood-shingled, stone, and terracotta-roof primary dwelling, which is adorned throughout with exposed trussed-beam cathedral ceilings and leaded glass windows. Public spaces include a living room with the original fireplace, a formal dining room, and a kitchen sporting a central island, a built-in buffet, and a glass-encased breakfast nook. Two primary bedrooms share an en suite bath spotlighted by a copper soaking tub.

The property has regulation-sized tennis and pickleball courts with grandfathered lights.
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Elsewhere is a wine cellar, along with game and exercise rooms, with the outdoor offerings including a glass-tiled swimming pool and a spillover spa alongside an open-air cabana with a kitchen setup and a fireplace. There are also separate tennis and pickleball courts with grandfathered lights, plus a wet bar-equipped viewing pavilion.
Dunn, who also owns another property next to the Cagney estate that isn’t currently for sale, told The Wall Street Journal he’s decided to sell because he is “ready for a change.” He and his ex-wife, Laura, owned another far more grand estate, also in Beverly Hills; they attempted to unload it back in 2019 for $72 million, but the property did not sell, and records show it is now owned solely by Laura Dunn.
Click here for more photos of the Beverly Hills residence.
Authors
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Wendy Bowman
Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…



