Daniel Stern replaced his ex Alone in the house Wet Bandit’s identity for something more befitting of his life today: “Citrus Bandit”.
The actor-turned-author, sculptor, farmer, and philanthropist tells PEOPLE that it’s “overwhelming” how much support he’s seen on both TikTok and Instagram lately, as fans have discovered he’s now living a quiet life on his California ranch — bought with the money that has saved from his time in Hollywood — growing tangerines and creating passionate project art that he describes as “an extension of the human condition.”
“What I love about social media is that you can tell your story,” Stern, 67, shares of the recent influx of new and old fans to his pages, “and it feels good to tell it. And it’s kind of the last step of any artistic creation is giving to the audience, so it’s a beautiful world, and I’m so tickled that people have discovered some of my stuff through TikTok.”
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Indeed, Stern lived his “real life,” as he says, hiking, ranching, growing produce, and creating bronze sculptures, a far cry from Joe Pesci’s rivalry in Alone in the housenarration Wonderful years and appear in more recent series including Loud.
Despite the distance, literally and figuratively, from the backwaters of Hollywood, Stern’s ranch and pottery studio make him feel like he’s working “on a film crew,” he says.
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“I’m fascinated by the cinematographer and the props department. You need all these people. So I like to live in all these different worlds. It’s the same in my world of sculptures. I make these fun sculptures, but I deal with the city and the city council who commissioned the piece, and I I’ll tell them their story And then I’ll deal with the city engineer and then I’ll deal with the foundry and the mold So I have all these other people in my life outside of show business and I think it makes my showbiz deeper because I’m living my real life,” he shares.
Stern’s decision to buy a ranch and start “moving away” from the public eye was caused by a desire to separate himself from the “overwhelming” reality of big stardom.
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Daniel Stern in ‘Home Alone’ from 1990.
20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
“I made enough money that I didn’t have to work,” he says. “I made enough money and I’m kind of frugal … I bought the house in cash. I bought the cars in cash. I bought everything outright because as an artist I never knew if [I was] I will make more bread. And I said to my wife, ‘How much money should I put in the bank so that we can live off the interest and not have to work?’ She said, ‘We hit it off.’ It was like, ‘Okay, Dan, now you’re going to put your money where your mouth is’ … ‘What am I going to do with it? Am I going to keep hunting for another part or something?’ ” Instead, he decided to embark on the path of fully realizing his passion projects – and hasn’t looked back since.
Ultimately, Stern says, “At this point … I like being in nature. I like being away. I like my solitude and I like being able to focus on what I’m doing. So the farm world is a great place for me.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education