To her credit, Liza reached out and invited Lee to dinner. Following that invitation, Lee decided to drop the lawsuit. When they met, they found a path to compromise.
Liza agreed to pay the rent to the new owners of the Beverly Hills mansion for as long as Lee resided there. Upon Lee’s death, the owners would be granted full access to the property.
There was no shortage of drama. The legal document continued, saying moving Lee to a condo “will no doubt be the death of her.” In response, Joseph D’Onofrio, the attorney representing Liza, passed on yet another insult to the frail plaintiff, “Given the present circumstances, Liza Minnelli has instructed me to tell your client through you that she is no longer invited to David and Liza’s wedding. In our recent conversation, you indicated that you had been invited to attend one or more of the festivities celebrating the wedding. If that is true, you also are no longer invited.”
Lee’s attorney shot back, “I’ll catch the next one.”
Liza, who was 56 at the time, defended her position. She explained to Daily Variety, “My father left me the house, saying, ‘It is my wish if you sell the house that you move [Lee] to a residence.’ I finally got a nice offer to sell it and offered her a $450,000 condo, tax-free. She won’t move. I’ve been supporting her forever.”
Liza’s frustrations with her stepmother went on, “I did exactly what my father asked me to do. And now we can’t go into escrow because she won’t move. I am willing to give her a happy life.”
Lee died three years later, just weeks after her 100th birthday. The owners, who sank about $3.5 million into the towering 5,800-square-foot, six-bedroom, six-bath home, could finally take possession.
It was expected that the property, set on an acre of exclusive land, very near the iconic Sunset Boulevard and its exclusive cross street, Rodeo Drive, would be renovated immediately.
Mysteriously, the magnificent estate holding an intriguing Hollywood tale was left to decay. No one ever moved in and no one restored it to its former glory.
The mansion at 812 North Crescent Drive just sat there, declining, for years on end, untenanted but for rats and squatters.