Real-Life Drama : Whether Their Homes Were Saved or Lost, the Blaze Thrusts Malibu’s Celebrity Residents Into Unexpected Roles

It was the sort of disaster in which Zsa Zsa Gabor would open her doors to homeless horses, in which Anthony Hopkins would offer sanctuary to Dick Van Dyke. Trace the flight from destruction, and you might meet Burgess Meredith exiting the gated Malibu Colony, a look of concern furrowing his famous face.

Tuesday’s tragedy was quintessential Malibu. The stories of survival and awe, of concern and relief, featured--like most things in this rustic celebrity enclave--a sort of who’s who of Hollywood.

The flames that swept down on mansions and beach shacks alike consumed, among other things, the $4-million home of Sean Penn. The Carbon Canyon hacienda, which the actor had shared first with ex-wife Madonna and later actress Robin Wright, was destroyed, said Penn’s publicist, Carol Stone.

Also leveled was the Rambla Pacifico house of actress Ali McGraw, who nonetheless issued a statement through her publicist thanking firefighters “for their extraordinary efforts in saving so many peoples’ lives.”

McGraw’s publicist said the actress was driving home when she was stopped by roadblocks and told she could not go farther. Leaving her car, she walked up the highway to her home to save her pets, only to find that neighbors had rescued them.

Not far away, however, the home of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore was virtually unscathed, despite a hot report on the Hollywood rumor mill that “Demi had lost half her house.” Neighbors said the two stars--he of “Die Hard,” she of “Ghost”--had evacuated the area Tuesday night with their two children.

Also spared was the home of Dick Van Dyke, who was evacuated from his bougainvillea-covered vacation house in the exclusive Serra Retreat area, and “spent the night assuming his house had been destroyed,” according to his publicist. In fact, the publicist, Bob Palmer, managed to network Van Dyke some overnight accommodations, thanks to a fortuitous phone call that had occurred while the two were on the line. Actor Anthony Hopkins--another Palmer client best known for his portrayal of the serial killer Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs”--had called from London to find out about the fires, Palmer said. When he learned that Van Dyke had been evacuated, he offered to let the colleague use his vacant apartment in Westwood, where Van Dyke spent the night with his companion, Michelle Marvin (of Lee Marvin palimony fame).

But Van Dyke, the publicist said, paid a price for the relief he felt when he learned that his $2-million home was still upright.

When they pulled up to blockades in hopes of getting a glimpse of the property, “someone from ‘Inside Edition’ spotted them and offered to take them in” if they would consent to an interview, the publicist said.

Actors Charles Bronson and Gary Busey also managed to keep their homes, which earlier had been reported razed by flames. Bronson, in fact, spent most of Wednesday morning driving up and down Malibu Canyon Road, thanking firefighters for their valiant defense of his property.

Tuesday night, he said, had been spent in a frantic effort to save his pets from the flames that licked his ranch near the Serra Retreat. Shuttling back and forth between the Serra Retreat house and a second, beachfront property, Bronson said he managed to save his three dogs but left a pet goose behind to fend for itself in the swimming pool. (It survived.)

Elated at his good luck, the granite-jawed actor bantered with soot-faced firefighters, joking with several about the suspenders they wore to hold up their heavy canvas, flameproof pants.

“It looks like the hardest part is going to be keeping your pants up,” Bronson quipped, offering the troops one of their few close encounters with celebrities.

Although Malibu has long been distinguished by its roster of movie star homeowners, most of the houses there are vacation homes. Residents of the fabled Malibu Colony said that only about a quarter of the beachfront estates were occupied when the brush fire hit, and one man said he saw only one famous neighbor as he fled--actor Burgess Meredith.

“We’re parked right in front of Mel Brooks’ house, and that’s Bob Newhart’s house down there on the other side of that blue car,” said Firefighter Ray Szymanski, 30. “But neither one is home. We were hoping Mel would come out and entertain us for a while.”

Farther down the street, Firefighter Terry Brisson, 36, of Palmdale, said neighbors told him his fire engine was parked near actor Tony Danza’s house.

“Problem is, we probably wouldn’t recognize him if we saw him,” Brisson laughed.

Bronson, however, was not the only publicly appreciative star.

Actor Mark Hamill--better known perhaps as Luke Skywalker of “Star Wars” fame--posed for pictures with fire crews and even donned a yellow firefighter’s helmet for a few shots.

Hamill, who had been evacuated from his home on Big Rock Drive, managed to hitch a ride back into the disaster area Wednesday with a KABC-TV news crew. On his way home, he passed one burned-out home after another, he said, but was relieved to find that his house had been untouched. Only the picket fence had been blackened, he said.

Also on the scene for most of the fire was Texas-born actor Busey, who kept vigil at his Coastline Drive home throughout most of the fire.

“I got some rooms to go to, but I feel like I’m evacuating the Alamo here if I run away,” Busey said Tuesday night.

Friends said Busey had at one point hired a moving van to cart his most precious belongings to safety. But by Wednesday morning, the star was settling back into his house and unpacking his black Mercedes, which he had filled with guitars, photos and bead-and-feather Indian ornaments when the situation was at its most perilous.

The actor, however, could not stay in the area. Friends said Busey had moved into a hotel with his mother; he wouldn’t say for sure, coyly responding with a classic one-liner:

“I’m going to Disneyland!”

And what would a Hollywood crisis be without a word from Zsa Zsa?

Although she does not live in Malibu or own property there, the Hungarian icon does have a big Simi Valley ranch. And by Wednesday afternoon, she had swung into action in behalf of her celebrity peers with an offer, broadcast on local TV, to take in horses with nowhere else to go.