BILL PULLMAN: ACTOR, FRUIT FARMER, BEEKEEPER and CATTLE RANCHER

A few days ago, I caught the last half of the "Independence Day," shown in my gym's Cardio Theater. It reminded me how much I liked Bill Pullman's acting back in the '90s.  Pullman's role as the U.S. President reminded me of real-life candidate Mitt Romney. Did Romney mold his "presidential image" with that never-out-of-place hair by watching Independence Day? Just wonderin.'

And as my family can attest, "While You Were Sleeping" is one of my favorite chick flicks, with Pullman and Sandra Bullock. But it's been awhile since I've seen him in a movie.  Now I find out that he is, indeed, one honey of a guy — busy keeping bees, growing fruit, and raising cattle.

Out of the blue I was sent a  press release about Pullman's latest acting gig. It mentioned that he has two homes. He splits his downtime between his 100-tree fruit orchard in Los Angeles where he harvests rare fruit, and his cattle ranch in Montana where he cultivates honey from his bee farm.

The press release said that Pullman’s fascination with food goes back to his Dutch heritage and his relationship with his mother, who taught him about the world of greens. Like his mother, Pullman is a skilled craftsman in the kitchen, taking pride in his homemade sorbet and marmalades made from produce from his own backyard. Through the years he has become an expert on how to grow and cultivate everything from pomegranates to rare loquats (which he helps preserve to avoid extinction).

Pullman’s next project is as Oswald Danes, a former school teacher and convicted child murdered who escapes his death sentence, in the upcoming STARZ drama series, “Torchwood: Miracle Day” (premiering July 8 at 10 p.m.). Sounds like quite a switch from the good-guy roles I remember him in.