Bronson Pinchot Lost Several Homes — and 'My Shirt' — After Pouring Finances Into Failed DIY TV Show (Exclusive)

Actor Bronson Pinchot is best known for his memorable roles in films like Beverly Hills Cop and series like Perfect Strangers.

But aside from acting, the Yale School of Drama grad has long had a passion for home renovation. More than a decade ago, he decided to make that hobby his sole focus as he snatched up several properties in rural Pennsylvania.

“I was able to buy six houses for the price of a New York condo,” says Pinchot, who loved the historic architecture of the homes in Susquehanna County, Pa.

But he wasn’t beloved by the locals. “People did not understand or couldn't absorb the reason that an actor would want to live 150 miles from New York City in the middle of nowhere,” he says. “They could never quite believe it.”

He says many folks in town were resistant to “Hollywood people” and made up outlandish stories about him.

Pinchot claims a pastor spread rumors that the actor’s then-assistant’s friend, who mowed the lawn in a swimsuit and sometimes sang opera around the house, was his “sex slave,” and her arias were the sounds of her “pleasure.”

"The reality was she was just an eccentric artist mowing the lawn in her bikini and then vocalizing," he says.

But unwelcoming neighbors weren’t his biggest problem. He got in over his head when the now-defunct DIY Network filmed him for The Bronson Pinchot Project, home-renovation series that documented his work in 2012 and 2013.

“I made it a financial drain,” he admits. “They would give me X for my fee, Y for the construction, and then I would spend triple X and triple Y for each episode."  

The show was canceled after two seasons, and the bills piled up. Several of the homes were foreclosed on and sold at auction. 

“I learned an amazing amount,” says Pinchot, “and I lost my shirt.” He shrugs off the ordeal now, adding, “What are you going to do?”  

Pinchot says he even joked about the situation when he reunited with Eddie Murphy on the set of Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. 

His character, Serge, drives a Bentley, which he and Murphy were near on set one day.

"We're standing next to it and just waiting for something. And I said, 'Do you like cars?' And he said, 'Oh, I used to. I used to be all into that, and who has time for that anymore?' I said, 'Yeah, I used to be like that about houses. I had six houses at one point.' I said, 'Who has time for that?'"

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is now streaming on Netflix.

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