Don Johnson aims for fast, big profit with $15 million Santa Barbara estate
Thirty years ago almost to the day, that inescapable touchstone of the 1980s known as "Miami Vice" first lit up the nation's television screens with its ice-cream-colored version of a cop show.
It was a confection that was on the kitschy side even then.
Yet its star Don Johnson, now 64, is still going strong. If you have any doubt, just take a look at the ocean-view mansion that he and his wife, Kelley Phleger, are unloading in Santa Barbara, California.
The estate actually has two houses, the main mansion and a guesthouse, on nearly 3 acres of land. The living space totals more than 11,000 square feet and includes a bright solarium. Yet there are only four bedrooms, resulting in a property where "every aspect is generous in scale without being pretentious," as the listing at the upscale Agency phrases it.
Not bad for a guy who was born in Flat Creek, Missouri, to a 19-year-old farmer and a 17-year-old beautician. Definitely not bad for a guy who describes his early acting years -- when he was just happy to "find some actual laundered sheets" -- this way: "The days were full of the hustle and the moving around and stuff. And at night it was about trying to get back before the one bed was taken or the bottle of wine that you stashed in the back of the refrigerator was drunk."
Interestingly, he's only owned the Santa Barbara mansion for since last year.
He's listing it at $14.9 million -- almost $2.5 million more than the $12.5 million he paid for it in April 2013. He appears to have done a little bit of cosmetic work to it but no major overhauls.
Click here or on a photo for a slideshow of the Santa Barbara estate that Don Johnson is selling.
Wondering what Don Johnson's been up to lately? Here's a clip from this year's well-reviewed movie "Cold in July":
