Famous Sleepless in Seattle Houseboat for Sale

Who can forget how handsome and sad Tom Hanks looked as bereaved widower Sam Baldwin when he moved with his young son to a sleek houseboat on Seattle's charming Lake Union in the 1993 blockbuster chick flick, "Sleepless in Seattle." Remember him standing on the deck of the houseboat, elbows on the railing, gazing at the stars as the city lights danced on the water? Bitter-sweet perfection.

Recently, the real owners of the famous floating residence have put it on the market. How much would you pay to own a legendary houseboat? The asking price is a cool $2.5 million. You may need some time to think about it!

Houseboats and Hollywood

Houseboats have been the settings for several of Hollywood's most memorable films. In "Sleepless in Seattle", the houseboat provided the perfect setting for Sam Baldwin to grieve the loss of his wife, contemplate life and start over. Even though Sam Baldwin and romantic co-star Annie Reed, played by Meg Ryan, weren’t together until the final two minutes of the movie, the audience always knew that they were going to live happily ever after on that magnificent houseboat.

Fifteen years after the movie debuted, the houseboat continues to be a top Seattle tourist attraction.

A Countess and a Houseboat

Another famous movie that featured a houseboat was actually called "Houseboat". The 1958 film stars romantic lead Cary Grant as Tom Winters, divorced father of three, and the beautiful ingénue Sophia Loren as Cinzia Zacardi. Even though the plot was a bit preposterous, Grant and Loren made it a warm, romantic comedy.

Cinzi, who is really a countess, escapes her overly protective lifestyle and gets a job taking care of Winters' three children. When their home is destroyed, they are all forced to live on a dilapidated houseboat on the Potomac River. Funny and endearing, Winters soon fall in love with his beautiful, mysterious housekeeper and the movie builds to a happy Hollywood ending. Funny and endearing, "Houseboat" became a big box-office hit and was nominated for two Academy awards.

From Romance to Sheer Terror

Long before "Sleepless in Seattle", there was the legendary 1962 thriller, "Cape Fear", which starred Robert Mitchum as the criminal Max Cady and Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden, the prosecuting attorney who got him convicted.

Released from prison, Cady is hell-bent on revenge against Bowden and his family. In a deadly cat-and-mouse game, Cady stalks and threatens Bowden's family until they leave town and flee to the safety of their river houseboat. They don't know that Cady has hitch-hiked a ride underneath their car.

"Cape Fear" builds to a heart-pounding climax when Cady sneaks aboard the houseboat and attacks the whole family in a scene so scary that the Bravo channel ranked it #36 in their list of the top 100 scariest scenes in American film history.

Even though the plots of these three movies have nothing in common, they do share the fact that a houseboat created the right setting to create the mood the director wanted. Houseboats, as Hollywood has proven, make extraordinary settings for life's dramas and transitions on and off the silver screen.