Her next drama: moving

Bring out the bubbly for soap star Deidre Hall. She soon hopes to toast two events.

One would be the sale of her Bel-Air home, listed at just under $8.5 million. Hall, 58, and her husband, writer-producer Steve Sohmer, 64, bought the more than 6,800-square-foot estate in 1992 from comedian Bob Newhart for about $3 million. Since then, their family has grown with the addition of two children born via a surrogate mother.

The walled and gated half-acre compound was designed by Gerald Colcord and built in 1932 to look like an English country home. It has six bedrooms with a playroom and 11 bathrooms. Other features are a master-bedroom suite, a living room with a fireplace, a den with a pub, a formal dining room and an office or guest suite.

There is an outside living room with a fireplace and a pool plus a detached guesthouse and a sports court.

As for Hall’s other reason to uncork champagne, in April she plans to mark her 30th year since taking the role of psychiatrist Marlena Evans on the NBC daytime drama “Days of Our Lives.”

Hall survived the ratings decline of daytime dramas in 2003 when many soaps trimmed casts and imposed pay cuts on actors.

New lineup for ex-Laker forward

NBA player Slava Medvedenko no sooner bought a house in Manhattan Beach than he was waived from the L.A. Lakers because of a herniated disk.

He purchased a newly built home for about $2.5 million and sold his Playa Vista condo for nearly $1.7 million.

Medvedenko bought the five-bedroom Manhattan Beach house to accommodate his growing family -- he recently married and had a child. The Playa Vista condo had two bedrooms.

The Tuscany-style, 4,600-square-foot home has a two-story living room and a sweeping, curved staircase. The dining room has inlaid travertine and granite floors. The kitchen has cherrywood cabinetry.

Medvedenko, 26, signed as a free agent in August 2000 and played on two Laker championship teams. He was re-signed to a two-year, $6-million deal before the 2004-05 season.

“He loves Manhattan Beach and has no immediate plans to sell his home there; however, he had back surgery at the beginning of the basketball season this year and is now working to get back to where he can play for whichever team picks him up for next season,” said Brian Pane of Re/Max on the Boulevard.

Pane represented Medvedenko in his purchase and sale. Darryl Cherniss and Magnus Hellberg of Sotheby’s International Realty, Brentwood, had the Manhattan Beach listing.

Bette Davis lived here -- and here

Screenwriter Tedi Sarafian seems to be following in film icon Bette Davis’ footsteps when it comes to real estate.

Sarafian, who co-wrote “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” (2003), recently purchased a Sunset Strip-area home for $1.6 million.

But he didn’t know until escrow closed that Davis had lived at one time in the three-bedroom, 2,400-square-foot English Tudor, built in 1920 but updated with a pool and a sound studio.

The actress, who died at age 81 in 1989, lived her final years in a vintage apartment purchased by Sarafian in 2004. The unit, with its huge terrace and city views, is in the 1920s Colonial House in West Hollywood.

Sarafian, who is working on scripts for the films “Arabian Nights” and “Sinbad,” uses the unit as a rental, a role it has played many times over the years. Among former renters were Jodie Foster, Tim Burton and Jennifer Lopez.

Adrian Grant of Prudential California Realty, John Aaroe division, Beverly Hills, represented Sarafian in his purchase and handles the rental, which will be available in October. Patricia Hodson of Sotheby’s International Realty, Sunset, had the listing on Sarafian’s latest purchase.

Designer revamps Garbo’s old abode

Greta Garbo set up house here -- but only briefly.

Designer-builder Nicole Sassaman is updating and adding onto a Beverly Hills house built by orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski in 1937, the same year he met the film star and filed for divorce from his second wife.

Sassaman is expanding the house from 2,000 to 5,500 square feet, creating a master bedroom suite with a sundeck and views from downtown to the ocean. The master bathroom will have an infinity tub and a steam shower.

There will be three guest rooms, an office with a fireplace, a sunken living room, a kitchen with a hidden television, a workout room, a wine cellar and a pool.

Stokowski had towering walls built around the pool and courtyard to block the paparazzi from peering at Garbo while she was sunbathing. But neither she nor the conductor could have spent long by the pool, because they left town together in 1937, traveling overseas, and soon he returned alone, announcing that he would marry fashion designer and artist Gloria Vanderbilt. They lived there as newlyweds.

The house is expected to be listed in May at just under $8 million.

To see previous columns on celebrity realty transactions visit latimes.com/hotproperty.