Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to actor/impressionist Jim Meskimen, son of actor Marion Ross. We speak to Jim (and his many guises – he really has an amazing ear for voices) about growing up the child of everyone’s favorite TV mum, Mrs. C., Marion Cunningham from the 70s TV juggernaut Happy Days. We als…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Charlie Matthau, son of actor Walter Matthau. We spoke to Charlie about his amazing father & their special relationship but also his incredible mother, actor/author Carol Matthau. We quickly learn that she was (wait for it), the basis for Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly …

Today on part two of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we continue our conversation with Patti Weidenfeld, daughter of stand-up comedian Pat Cooper. If you heard part one of our conversation last week, prepare yourself for part two because the second half of Patti’s story is unlike anything you have ever heard before. An idyllic life as the only child of …

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Patti Weidenfeld, daughter of comedian/actor Pat Cooper. An entertainer for more than 50 years, Pat Cooper was known as a ‘comedians comedian’, someone who other comedians look up to as a genuine talent and a show business icon. Born in Coney Island Brooklyn, Pat Cooper embodied the Mad Men era c…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Ed Eckstine, son of singer Billy Eckstine and actress/model Carolle Drake. Our conversation with Ed was fun, fascinating, edifying and above all, full of stories of his life as the child of a celebrity but also his own career in the music industry. Our only regret was not keeping Ed for another 9…

Today on part two of our encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we again talk to Alison Martino, daughter of singer Al Martino and guardian of her beloved LA and her Vintage Los Angeles social media properties. And because both Alison and host josh Mills are die hard denizens of the city of angels, there is a lot (and we mean a lot) of hand w…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Alison Martino for the second time about growing up the daughter of singer/actor Al Martino. As the founder of Vintage LA, Alison has created an online juggernaut that has hundreds of thousands of fans wanting to know more about significant current landmarks as well as …

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Katharine “Kat” Kramer, daughter of producer/director Stanley Kramer. Now, you might have heard of a few films Stanley directed like The Defiant Ones, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Judgement at Nuremberg, On the Beach and a comedy called It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. So it’s appropriate that …

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Matt Axton, son of singer, songwriter, commercial pitchman and actor Hoyt Axton. If you’re first thought is that Hoyt Axton was the dad in the film Gremlins, you’d be correct but you’d only be scratching the surface of this well rounded entertainer. We learn from Matt how his father wrote the sma…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Denise Gautier, daughter of singer, comedian and painter Dick Gautier. As we discuss, many folks remember Dick Gautier as Hymie the Robot from the 60s sitcom Get Smart but as you will find out Dick Gautier was no one trick pony. He was a Tony award nominee for his role as Conrad Birdie in the or…

Today on part two of our encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we continue our conversation with guests Daisy Torme and James Torme. And that can only mean one thing: more great stories about growing up the children of The Velvet Fog, Mel Torme, one of the greatest voices in all Jazz history. We speak to Daisy and James not only about their …

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking with Daisy Torme and James Torme, the children of singer/musician Mel Torme actress Janette Scott. This episode was a true pleasure to record as not only were there terrific Mel & Janette stories but also some great stories about out host, Josh’s dad as well. You see Mel a…

Today on Part two of our interview with Sam Nelson on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk about what it was like being the son of Rick Nelson and grandson of Ozzie & Harriet Nelson about growing up, well, Nelson. On part one we discussed with Sam how he became the keeper of the flame for the family business as the archivist & producer for the TV sho…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, it’s part one of our interview with Sam Nelson, son of the great Rick Nelson, nephew to David Nelson and grandchild of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson If you grew up in America in the 1950s The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet defined post War America. It was a massive hit and ran for 14 years. We take a deep dive into the…

Today on part two of our interview with Radames Pera, we continue our conversation with the former actor known best as Grasshopper from the TV-series Kung-Fu. Believe us when we say, we wish we had another hour or two with Radames to get to all the stories that make up his own story, that of his mother’s story and that of his absentee father whose …

Today on the first part of a two part episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are speaking to Radames Pera whose name you might know as well as that of his mother actor Lisa Pera. Because this episode is so jam packed – and we honestly didn’t even get to half of the stuff we wanted to talk about- so we split this episode into two parts. On this ep…

Today on this encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Nicky Trebek, daughter of Alex Trebek. Our conversation with Nicky was a fun one as host Josh Mills grew up on the same street as Nicky in the freewheelin’ 1970s San Fernando Valley and as we discuss those years as a starting point and off we went. Along the way we had many…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we’d like to wish you a Happy New Year 2024 with this encore episode for first episode of our third season. Our guest today is talking to musician Rachel Haden about her father, influential jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Rachel was kind enough to talk to us about so many things including her memories of growing up as…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to a Connecticut Yankee in Hal Prince’s Court. And while that might not make sense to you now, believe me, it will after you listen to this episode with guest Luke Yankee. Son of Oscar winning actress Eileen Heckart, Luke talked to us about his mother with great affection as well as great humor. Yo…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast…we bring you something very different. Today, we mixed up our format and decided to bring on three previous guests who have been on the podcast individually to see how it would work when we brought them all together. It was a bold experiment. Today we bring you Jenny Brill, Shawn Kay and Carnie Wilson, three frien…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to professional photographer Donavan Freberg, son of actor, musician, author, advertising executive, comedian, musician & radio personality Stan Freberg & mother Donna Freberg. On the first part of this episode, we learn from Donavan about his years growing up in a somewhat dysfunctional (his words…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to someone who frankly, we didn’t know we absolutely needed to talk to a month ago. We are talking to actress/voice over artist Pamela Dillman. Pamela’s father was actor Bradford Dillman and her stepmother was supermodel, Suzy Parker. Yes, THAT Suzy Parker. But what makes this episode so special, at…

Today on part two of our interview with Lili Haydn on this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we continue our story about how Lili grew up in the most unconventional way in Hollywood and came out of it a Grammy winner in spite of the amazing conclusion we discuss today. In part one, Lili gave us the background on her mother Lotus Wienstock who w…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we take a listen to part one of our conversation with Lili Haydn, the Grammy winning composer and performer who has perhaps the most fascinating and most brutally honest story we’ve ever recorded. It was so jam packed and unbelievable that we didn’t even get a chance to ask her about what it was like starring in …

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to actress and author Dinah Manoff. It was a real thrill to talk to Dinah about her own career – in iconic films like Grease and Child’s Play as well as her television career on shows like Soap and Empty Nest but we also loved talking about her mother, actress/director Lee Grant who is still with u…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk with Rain Pryor, daughter of the great comedian, writer and actor Richard Pryor. When you talk about stand-up comedy, Richard Pryor is a shoe-in to be on the Mount Rushmore of stand-up comedians. To this day, the legacy and humor Richard Pryor left behind is second to none and we…

Welcome to another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast – our Halloween edition – with part two of our interview w/ Janna Taninbaum and Michael Ritz, the children of comedian Harry Ritz of The Ritz Brothers. On this second half of our interview, we talk about some of the hijinks Harry got up to as a performer and as a father as well. Like wh…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we bring you part one of our interview w/ the children of zany comedian Harry Ritz, Janna Taninbaum & Michael Ritz. The reason this became a two part episode was because of some terrible technical issues which forced us to abort our initial conversation and pick it up two days later. Wha…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we speak to Larry Strauss, son of actress Charlotte Rae. To say we were more than a little surprised at how many of you connected to this episode with all of you comments, likes and metrics, is an understatement. You really took a liking to this one and why not? Larry was incredibly open about how both his mother…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Anne Marie Snyder, daughter of the great Tom Snyder. We selected this very episode for this very date because on October 15 it will mark the 50th anniversary of the Tomorrow show. And if that’s not a reason to raise your glass and toast one of the greatest talk show host…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking, for a second time to Eric Bonerz, son of actor/director Peter Bonerz. We spoke to Eric a while back and what started out as a fun connection to our time together as kids at the Oakwood School became a pop culture potpourri of 1970s LA, celebrity, movies, film, trivia, television, music, weird video…

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk to Rachel Pollack, daughter of actor/director Sydney Pollack. We talk to Rachel about some truly amazing experiences that only a child of a celebrity could tell you. Like what you ask? How about being on set of Out of Africa IN AFRICA with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford and stil…

Today on another encore edition of The Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Cleto Escobedo III, who is the bandleader for late night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! We talk to Cleto about his years growing up in Las Vegas with Jimmy when his pop, Cleto Jr. was head of a fantastic live band, Los Blues who performed for years in the lounge of the Sah…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Noopy Rodrigues, daughter of comedian and singer Rose Marie and trumpeter Bobby Guy. Talking to Noopy was a fun and lively experience because the thing that became clear from the word go was how many connections we had that we didn’t even know about. From Broadway theaters our mom’s performed in…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Peter Knego, whose parents actor Peter Coe and Model/Actress Rosalee Calvert really come alive in the conversation you are about to hear. What’s our connection? Well Rosalee was in two films with Edie Adams, Josh’s mother and both Peter and Josh both went to the same high school. But listening to…

Today on another encore bonus edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk to last week’s guests Kathleen Marshall and Scott Marshall, again this week. And again we learn first-hand what it was like to grow up the daughter and son of director Garry Marshall & the niece and nephew of actor director Penny Marshall. This episode picks up where last w…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk to Kathleen Marshall and Scott Marshall, the daughter and son of director Garry Marshall & the niece and nephew of actor/director Penny Marshall. We loved talking to two fellow albums of the Oakwood School which host Josh Mills attended with them because it was a great chance to …

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Sara Ballantine, daughter of comedian and magician Carl Ballentine. Or how some of you may know him: The Amazing Ballantine. Or maybe it’s The World’s Greatest Magician. Whatever the case, you might also remember Carl from his “magic act” or stints on McHale’s Navy, epi…

Today on the Rarefied Heir Podcast encore edition, we are talking to Cory Tyler, son of ventriloquist Willie Tyler & Lester. Taking to Cory was a great thrill as his dad was one of those celebrities you saw constantly when we were growing up - from successful runs on stage, to network television, on cable TV and even one place we did not know about…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Dick Smothers Jr, son of, yes, you guessed it, Dick Smothers of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy team. We spoke to Dick Jr. about growing up with one of the best straight men in the business – his father, how his father and uncle Tom Smothers founded their musical comedy act, how they launched…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Kristi Callan, daughter of actress and author K Callen. That’s K as in the letter, no period. We talk to Kristi about her mother’s 50+ year career in stage, film, television and commercials in everything from an iconic All in The Family episode to the recent Knives Outbuzzed about film. Along th…

Today on the Rarified Hair Podcast we are sending you across the orthicon tube with a special edition bonus episode in celebration of the upcoming Fantagraphics book, “Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings and Photographs from Television’s Original Genius”. Our host today is co-author Pat Thomas (although left to Pat, you’d never know that as you…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Precious Chong, daughter of Tommy Chong, aka The Man, aka THE Chong in the comedy team Cheech and Chong. It was a real thrill to talk to Precious as she is someone Josh had never met before but was part of his peripheral circle as she was friends with a few of his childhood friends while we were…

Today on the 4th of July edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Jazmin Erving, daughter of Julius Erving or as we all know him, Dr. J. To say Josh was psyched to talk to Jazmin would be an understatement. To those of us who grew up sports in the United States in the 1970s and 80s (ahem), Dr. J was an almost mythical figure who tran…

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast encore edition, we are talking to Innis Casey, son of writer/producer J. Rickey Dumm who worked with friend, classmate and iconic TV show hitmaker Stephen J. Cannell on many of his hit shows including Magnum PI, Silk Stalkings, Renegade and Rockford Files among others. Innis is brutally honest about his writer/pro…

Today on the second part of another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we again are talking to Cathy Cole, a member of both The first family of song, the King Family as well as the King Cousins. So if you didn’t get enough of Cher, Ray Charles, Jonathan Winters and her amazing father Buddy Cole, we have much more to share with you. It's al…

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Cathy Cole, who like a prior guest was born into the King Family, The First Family of Song. It’s a fun and fascinating conversation with Cathy as she talks to us about her family (of course) but also of her own career in the King Cousins with fantastic stories about hang…

Today on this encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we talk to Hollye Dexter, who has an amazing and unusual story about growing up with actor Dan Haggerty. While we bend the rules slightly on this episode, we talk to her Uncle Dan, the man behind The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, a fuzzy family television show from the 70s that made him …

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we speak with Chrissy Quinn, who has not one, but two famous parents. Her father, Louis Quinn is perhaps best remembered for his role on televisions 77 Sunset Strip where he played lovable Roscoe The Bookmaker. However his show business career goes back to radio when he wrote for Milton …

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Kiki Ebsen, daughter of the great Buddy Ebsen. Now, originally, I was going to say the great actor Buddy Ebsen and he definitely was a great actor. But after talking to Kiki we learned that not only did her father act but he also danced, he sang, he wrote books, he was a master sailor of catamara…