Grayhall is a historic mansion in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

, U.S.

History

The house was built as a hunting lodge for Harry D. Lombard in 1909. The second owner,

Silsby Spalding Silsby Spalding (May 29, 1886 – May 5, 1949) was an American businessman and politician. He served as the first Mayor of Beverly Hills, California from 1926 to 1928. Early life Silsby Morse Spalding was born on May 29, 1886 in Minneapolis, ...

, added a ballroom to the house in 1919; Silsby went on to serve as the first mayor of Beverly Hills from 1926 to 1929. In 1919, actor

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...

leased the house and built a tunnel to

Pickfair Pickfair is a mansion and estate in the city of Beverly Hills, California with legendary history. The original Pickfair was an 18 acre (7.3 ha) estate designed by architect Horatio Cogswell for attorney Lee Allen Phillips of Berkeley Square as ...

, the house next door that he shared with actress

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

. The tunnel was subsequently sealed. Subsequent owners included actor George Hamilton and financier

Bernard Cornfeld Bernard "Bernie" Cornfeld (17 August 1927 – 27 February 1995) was a prominent businessman and international financier who sold investments in US mutual funds, and who was tried and acquitted for mismanagement of the Investors Overseas Servic ...

. The house belonged to

Mark R. Hughes Mark R. Hughes (January 1, 1956 – May 21, 2000) was an American entrepreneur who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Herbalife International Ltd, a multi-level marketing company. Early life Hughes was born in La Mirada, California on J ...

, the founder, chairman and CEO of

Herbalife Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., also called Herbalife International, Inc. (with a U.S. subsidiary called Herbalife International of America) or simply Herbalife, is a global multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary sup ...

, from 1992 to 2000. It was used in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born as the home of rock star John Norman Howard, played by

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...

. Grayhall was also the facility to host the wedding celebration reception for at the time "America's Sweetheart" actress Valerie Bertinelli and America's own Guitar God, Edward Van Halen in April 1981.

References

Houses in Beverly Hills, California Houses completed in 1909 {{California-struct-stub