New HBO series to explore heiress who left behind Santa Barbara waterfront mansion
HBO recently announced plans to adapt “Empty Mansions” — the nonfiction book about reclusive copper heiress Huguette Clark and the Santa Barbara waterfront estate she owned until her death at age 104 — into a TV series.
“Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune” — co-written by journalist Bill Dedman and Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell Jr. — was published in 2013 by Ballatine Books.
It quickly became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller.
In the book, Dedman and Newell, who died in 2016, “tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world,” according to the official description.
The show is being developed by director Joe Wright, writer Ido Fluk and production and distribution company Fremantle.
Wright is known for directing films such as “Pride & Prejudice,” “Atonement” and “Darkest Hour,” while Fluk is best known for the movies “The Ticket” and “Never Too Late.
“Paul’s family and I are thrilled that Huguette’s story is in the hands of such able filmmakers,” Dedman told Noozhawk. “It will be fun to see how they interpret this American story of excess and creativity, of grasping and generosity.”
“And for Santa Barbara, I’m hopeful that soon the city will allow the Bellosguardo Foundation to allow public tours of the Clark estate,” he said. “The test tours for supporters of the foundation have been getting rave reviews.”
The Bellosguardo Foundation started offering guided tours of the Bellosguardo estate — a 23 ½-acre property with a 21,666-square-foot mansion located at 1407 E. Cabrillo Blvd. — for small groups to its donors and early supporters in December, but has not yet made it accessible to the wider public.
Dedman,, a Pulitzer Prize winner, has visited Santa Barbara several times to talk about his book and his investigation into Clark’s life, including a talk at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum in 2022.
More information on Clark’s estate and the Bellosguardo Foundation can be found at bellosguardo.org, and more information on the “Empty Mansions” book can be found at emptymansionsbook.com.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 2:04 PM.