Faye Dunaway is a much-feared resident of West Hollywood. That's pretty much common knowledge. Ask around a bit, and you're sure to hear a tale or two about the star of Mommie Dearest and Network terrorizing a Koo Koo Roo or holding an El Salvadorian car wash employee hostage with a barbecue lighter. And like any Norma Desmond worth her salt, Dunaway has more than a few skeletons squirreled away in her closet. Some of them are literal skeletons of Thai food delivery boys who'd forgotten her chicken satay. Others, however, are figurative skeletons — shadily held property holdings, for example, such as the one-bedroom walk-up on East 78th St. she's been calling her "primary residence" since 1994.

Dunaway pays $1,048.72 a month for the apartment, whose downstairs buzzer reads "F. Dunaway." Her landlord has filed suit against the actress, saying the apartment is in fact not her primary residence, but rather a pied-à-terre in the city, making it exempt from rent stabilization rules. The New York Times spoke to a property expert who estimates the unit would go for $2,318 a month in the current market.

The first hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 11 at 2 p.m. in Manhattan Civil Court. It's bound to be dull and largely uneventful — that is, of course, unless Dunaway decides to pull her legendary diva act, announcing at full volume during cross-examination, "It's my primary residence! It's my pied-à-terre! My primary residence! My pied-à-terre! It's my primary residence AND my pied-à-terre!" before collapsing in an inconsolable heap. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. [NYT, photo via Getty]