it was not just the desert that lured the Marvins, but the house itself. Designed by the architect Josias Joesler in 1936, it was set on 12 acres,

There's a terrific interview in the Sunday Times UK Online edition with Pamela Marvin, widow of Lee Marvin.
Lee Marvin’s widow on her Arizona home and ...
She talks about how she and Lee Marvin discovered and fell in love with the desert and the great old Joesler house they bought in 1975 in the Tucson Foothills.
Now, Pamela 77, is putting the house in the foothills of Tucson, Arizona, where they found both love and peace, on the market for £3m. (it's $6,000,000)
 
See the listing here
This is a one of a kind home. In addition to being a historic Joesler estate in the heart of the old Tucson Foothills, it comes with some real Hollywood glamour, and, it's on the largest residential lot in the old Foothills, 12 acres. Unheard of these days.

See TheFoothillsToday.com
to search for and learn more about Tucson Foothills Homes