Swan Song for Life in Malibu

CHER, who plans to lead a press tour of Armenia later this month to focus public attention on the plight of its 3.5 million people, has put her Malibu house and nearby lot on the market.

“I’ve been reassessing my life and decided that I’ve had a nice rest here, but now I’m ready to be more active, and Malibu is a little far from town. I still like the beach, but now I’m thinking of moving to Brentwood or the Santa Monica Mountains,” she said.

Last year, Cher completed a 21-city “Love Hurts” tour, named after her most recent album, and she has been working on a new album, “writing a lot of the songs myself,” she said.

“But now . . . I really want to go back to making movies,” said Cher, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in “Moonstruck” (1987). “I want to make important movies, movies that are meaningful.”

She has been working with Marvin Worth, producer of “Malcolm X,” to do two films after she returns from Armenia, where a blockade of its borders left residents without food, fuel and electricity.

“I feel that because of my (Armenian) father, this (tour) is something I have to do,” she said. “The Armenians are really having a hard time, so we’re going there to shoot something for the BBC, and we’re going to bring over some American TV crews too.”

Cher recently bought what she described as “an old-fashioned type of Spanish house” in Miami, which she is renovating. “I really love looking at the ocean, and that’s one thing I like about my Florida home. It’s right on the ocean, where I could have a boat,” she said.

Divorced, from rock singer Gregg Allman and the other half of her famous singing duo--Sonny Bono--Cher, now 46, says, “For the first time, I am happy being by myself, and I’m really into getting back into work.”

She listed her 1.7-acre Malibu bluff, where she had planned to build a 14,000-square-foot house on 15 levels with coastline views from Pt. Dume to Palos Verdes, with Mike Silverman of Mike Silverman & Associates, Beverly Hills. The $3.25-million asking price includes plans, approved by the city and Coastal Commission.

She also listed her existing home, which was used in the movie “Indecent Proposal,” with Silverman. That house, on 1.2 acres with a pool and tennis court, is priced at $5.25 million. Cher bought the home about three years ago and expanded it to about 9,500 square feet.

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“Jeopardy” host ALEX TREBEK and his wife, Jean, have purchased a house next door to their San Fernando Valley residence so they can expand their estate to two acres.

They also plan to build a tennis court on their newly acquired site, sources say.

Trebek had purchased his home, in the hills, two years ago for an estimated $2.2 million. He updated it at a cost of $1.2 million, adding a guest house for his mother, the sources said.

Vida Monify, with Fred Sands Estates, had the listing on the home that was purchased recently for $760,000, according to public records.

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A Beverly Hills mansion built in 1929 for CARRIE GUGGENHEIM, a member of the famous family who developed worldwide mining interests and pioneered the U.S. mining industry, is on the market at $10.5 million.

The recently refurbished house--with five bedrooms, an elevator and a library in about 12,000 square feet--is on an acre with 300 feet of frontage on the Los Angeles Country Club.

“Its ceilings were hand-carved and painted by European artisans,” said listing agent Bruce Nelson of John Bruce Nelson & Associates in Beverly Hills.

There is also a pool and a fountain on the property, which has been owned by the same couple for the past 25 years.

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STANLEY DONEN, who co-directed “Singing in the Rain” (1952) with Gene Kelly and directed “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954) and produced and directed “Blame It on Rio” (1983), has put his Bel-Air estate on the market at $3.95 million.

The main house has two bedrooms and a maid’s room in 4,000 square feet. There is also a guest house with a projection room on the nearly 1.9-acre property. The home was built in 1949.

Donen decided to sell his home of 20 years because he wants to relocate to a condo on the Wilshire Corridor, said listing agent Michael Sahakian of Rodeo Realty in Beverly Hills.