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New York Daily News

'Moonstruck' lovers: $5M will buy the house

By: Jotham Sederstrom
Published: 2/2/2006Source: New York Daily News
The Brooklyn brownstone immortalized in the Oscar-winning movie "Moonstruck" is up for sale - but the merely romantic need not apply.

The elegant four-story home in Brooklyn Heights is being offered for a cool $5 million.

Prospective buyers are already lining up to see the house at Cranberry and Willow Sts., which Cher's Loretta Castorini called home.

Edward and Francesca Rullman, owners since 1959, decided it was time to sell the 177-year-old home, said Corcoran broker Elliott Lokitz, who declined to say why.

"It really is kind of the antithesis of movie glitz," said Lokitz of the quiet Cranberry St. block where Cher famously kicked a can with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

"People who love Brooklyn Heights love it for the beautiful, quiet residential community and the charm," Lokitz said.

In one early scene, Best Actress winner Olympia Dukakis stands outside the home with a male suitor, who comments, "My God, it's a mansion!"

"It's a house," she replies.

But buyers hoping to get their mitts on what's inside, including the kitchen and old-fashioned six-range gas stove, should think again: All but a few interior shots were filmed on a movie set in Toronto.

Real-life neighbor Dorris Cain, 78, recalled watching Cher kick the can down Cranberry St. during filming, but it was only years later that she realized it was part of the movie.

"It's fun to see these things, but you become very blasé about it," said Cain, who a decade earlier watched scenes from "The Godfather" being shot on the same block.

As for the sale, Cain shrugged.

"There's been a tremendous turnover just in the past five years," said Cain. "I think it has a lot to do with people getting old and dying."

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