Thursday This and Thats: Kevin James

In May (2013), after just 36 days on the open market, well-compensated and residuals rich sitcom star Kevin James (King of Queens) sold his nearly 12,000 square foot modern-minded mock-Med mansion in Encino, CA, for exactly $5,550,000, $55,000 more than the $5,495,0000 asking price.

What hasn't been revealed, at least as far as Your Mama knows, is that the buyer—according to the always informed Yolanda Yakketyyak—is Donna Scott, a beauty queen turned model turned part-time actress and, sadly, the widow of late, Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning director/producer Tony Scott.

Miz Scott, a former Miss North Carolina, has landed a number of (mostly small) parts in a handful of movies such as Days of Thunder, which her late husband directed, Get Shorty, Pulp Fiction, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Enemy of the State, and Water for Elephants. On the small screen she's appeared on shows such as The Good Wife, the short-lived 3Way, and—her meatiest role to date—Nash Bridges.

British-born Mister Scott, the younger brother of three time Oscar nominated film director Ridley Scott, directed and/or produced a slew of movies, many of them critically panned but none-the-less box office hits. Mister Scott's movie credits include but are not limited to The Hunger, Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Beverly Hills Cop II, Crimson Tide, and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 as well as a whole bunch of television programs, made for television movies, and mini-series including The Good Wife, Numb3rs, Gettysburg, The Pillars of the Earth, The Gathering Storm and The Andromeda Strain. Mister Scott may he rest in peace, took his own life last August (2012) when he leaped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, CA. At the time of his death he has at least half a dozen projects in various stages of planning and production.

Listing still accessible on the internets show the L-shaped mansion, just around the corner from the Jackson family compound on Hayvenhurst Avenue, was built in 2003 at the tail end of a short cul-de-sac on a gated and elevated two-ish acre parcel. Listing details indicate the sizable abode has five bedrooms and nine bathrooms. A closer perusal of the floor plan included with digital marketing materials shows that one of the bedrooms is tucked behind the kitchen as a domestic staff suite and that the nine bathrooms parse out to six full and four half bathrooms.

Formal living and dining rooms flank the double height foyer where a curved staircase ascends to the upper level bedrooms. Other main floor rooms include a family room with fireplace and built-in wet bar, a breakfast room (or two), and a super-deluxe kitchen equipped with a massive, free-standing French-made range that Your Mama can assure the children cost Mister and Missus James as much as a damn Mercedes.

Other features of note include 4 or maybe 5 fireplaces, a sophisticated home automation system, a direct entry garage with room for four cars, a state-of-the-art home theater, a spa room with glassed-in steam room private walled garden, a billiards room that does double duty as a home office with a built-in desk, and an unusually roomy two-room fitness wing on the second floor that spans nearly 1,500 square feet.

Numerous covered patios, terraces and balconies on both floors seamlessly connect the indoor living spaces to the flat, resort-style backyard that's all decked out with a built-in fire pit, a swimming pool with inset spa and elevated lounge area, a pergola-shaded outdoor kitchen, and flat lawns for pitching tents or piddling pooches. Set below and out of sight from the house there's a collection of solar panels and just over the shrubs and trees that ring the backyard are head on views of the office towers along Ventura Boulevard.

Believe it or not, butter beans, Miz Scott's new 12,000-ish square foot pile is a bit of a downgrade—or at least a downsize—from the Scott's long-time primary residence, a multi-parcel compound in the mountains above Beverly Hills. Mister and Missus Scott have also long kept a beach front house in the exclusive Colony enclave that was listed for lease over the summer (2013) at $150,000 per month.

listing photos and floor plan: Michael McNamara/Shooting L.A. for Partners Trust