Despite the fact that he'd been in films since 1917, Warner Baxter never really made much of an impact on the silent era. It wasn't until his 1929 Academy Award-winning performance as the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona that he gained greater recognition. He made a few more notable pictures in the 1930s, including his signature role as impresario Julian Marsh in 42nd Street, before his declining mental health forced him to retire. He died in 1951.
His four acre, Tudor-style home on Nimes Road was built in 1933. Like its owner, the house was "solid, stolid and uneccentric..nothing flashy, with everything in quiet good taste."