Actress Natalie Portman has paid $3,250,000 to purchase a 4,866-square-foot celebrity-friendly house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills area.

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As we continue to dig out from the avalanche of great items that have appeared elsewhere lately but not here, we wanted to highlight the latest stop on the Natalie Portman Real Estate Express. Our friends over at the Real Estalker have been all over this story, both breaking the news of Portman's purchase and also earlier, closely following the celebrity pedigree of this property as well. This parcel clearly rivals that of 4875 Louise Avenue in Los Angeles' Encino area, which has been owned and/or occupied over the years by Kirstie Alley, Katey Sagal, Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards, Don Ameche, and Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler, according to public records and our pal E.J.

But first, let's discuss the latest development here. Records show that Portman's Sea Cliff Real Property Trust closed on the property on April 9, with the deal being recorded on April 30. If this trust name sounds familiar to you all (and we doubt that it would!), do note that it's the same trust name that Portman utilized to own her 2,088-square-foot house at 35 Bay Avenue in Sea Cliff, N.Y., which she purchased in 2002 for $1,375,000 and which she then sold in the summer of 2007 for $1,750,000. Of course, the Harvard-educated actress also used that same trust to own her two-bedroom loft in the Richard Meier-designed glass tower at 165 Charles Street in Manhattan's West Village, which she purchased in 2005 for $5,700,000 and which she then sold late last year for $6,550,000, according to public records.

Now, Portman is a newly minted Los Angeles homeowner. Built in 1933 and designed by architect Gordon B. Kaufman, the four-bedroom Cal Medieval-style manor house sold for above its asking price of $3,199,000, according to public records. Features include two baths, a private courtyard area to the main foyer, large rooms, rich wood floors, a living room with archways and beveled wood ceilings, leaded sanctuary-style windows, ceilings with gallery proportions, leaded glass French doors, and a stone loggia, according to listing information. Outdoor features on the 0.42-acre (18,300-square-foot) lot include a pool, a state-of-the-art security system and two separate guest homes (a detached guest house and a separate chauffeur's quarters and recording studio), according to public records and listing information.

The house has one heck of a celebrity pedigree. Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener purchased the property from Chick Corea in 1997 for about $1.35 million, according to a Los Angeles Times "Hot Property" article at that time. Mulroney and Keener, who now are splitsville, sold the property in late 2005 for $3,050,000, according to public records, to an LLC that the Real Estalker seems to think was controlled by now-deceased musician Leroi Moore. Now, that same LLC has sold the home to Portman.

If you want our opinion, we'd guess that Portman stays in this house for two or three years, tops. We'll of course keep you posted; stay tuned.