Originally, the house belonged to Robert Armstrong, the ship's captain in King Kong, who uttered the last line in the movie, It was beauty killed the beast,' " explains Carrie Fisher, documenting the uniquely star-studded pedigree of her spectacular three-acre spread high in the Hollywood Hills. "After that, Bette Davis lived here for a while before it was bought in 1933 by Edith Head, who did most of the major re-build. When I moved in, 12 years ago, it was my furniture that made the call. I had so much stuff, I had to live in a place where it wanted to go," she says of the warren of rooms with audaciously oversize leather 1930s club chairs, picked up in a Paris marché aux puces, the Biedermeier low and side tables, the whimsical offerings of folk art and Indian rugs, the stained-glass windows and doors. "The furniture was definitely in charge of where I ended up. If you can say anything about the house, it's always been playful."

Billie Lourd

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