Episode #273: James Tomlinson (David Tomlinson)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we speak to James Tomlinson, the son of actor David Tomlinson. It’s not every day we talk to a guest who was on the set of Mary Poppins(cough) he wasn’t that impressed), met Walt Disney, received Christmas gifts from the Walt Disney Company each year because it’s not everyone whose father was Mary’s employer, Mr. Banks in one of Disney’s most beloved hit movies of all-time. While we do speak about James’ father’s career on the London stage and in films like Bedknobs and Brooksticks, Up The Creek & Warning for...
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Episode #272: Patricia Weidenfeld (Pat Cooper) (Part Two)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on an another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we bring you part two of our conversation with Patricia Weidenfeld, daughter of comedian Pat Cooper. As you heard on the first episode, Weidenfeld’s life as a child of a show business comic was pretty terrific until it wasn’t. Learning rather abruptly at age eight that her father had a family prior to hers after being accosted outside a Broadway theater, Patricia tells us more on part two of our conversation than she has ever told anyone publicly, at any time before. It turns out that the Broadway incident was the first in a...
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Episode #271: Patricia Weidenfeld (Pat Cooper) (Part One)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on an another encore edition of the Rarified heir Podcast, we bring you part one of our conversation with Patricia Weidenfeld, daughter of ‘The Outrage Comic’, Pat Cooper. Known for his explosive (but funny) temper on stage and his somewhat rogue temperament in the business, Cooper’s humor revolved around his Italian heritage and calling out things that bothered him, his album cover parody, his seemingly endless Vegas showroom shows, a well-known Seinfeld episode and in later life, his time on The Howard Stern Show. We spoke to Patti about growing up with a father she loved dearly...
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Episode #270: Nabil Ayers (Roy Ayers)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on another episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Nabil Ayers, son of musician Roy Ayers, a jazz/funk/soul giant most famous for his song “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” and is likely one of the most sampled artists of all time. A vibraphonist, singer and composer, Ayers songs have been sampled by everyone from Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg as well as had collaborations with Alicia Keyes, The Roots and Tyler, The Creator among others. As you will soon hear, Nabil’s story is unlike anything we have heard before on the podcast. Imagine growing up knowing...
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Episode #269: Anne Serling (Rod Serling)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Anne Serling, daughter of the great writer and as we learn, practical joker and pop culture figure Rod Serling. Of course we talk to Anne about beloved anthology shows her father created like The Twilight Zone as well as The Night Gallery but we also talk to Anne about her father’s humanity, his years growing up in upstate New York, his religious beliefs and traditions, his career in radio, the films he wrote and much more. But we also hear from Anne about why she wrote a book about her father, As I Knew Him: My Dad Rod Serling but...
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Episode #268: Fred Armisen (Ernie Kovacs Award, VideoFest)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Today, we are doing something different but not totally unprecedented. Last year in 2024, we presented a bonus episode, recorded live at the Texas Theater in Dallas, Texas with Ernie Kovacs award winner, Gerald Casale from Devo at VideoFest. This year, we’d like to present this year’s VideoFest’s Ernie Kovacs Award recipient, comedian Fred Armisen. This is just one of the ways we keep the legacy of both Ernie and Edie Adams going and frankly, it’s really a major impetus for this podcast itself. How better to keep...
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Episode #267: Tamar Springer (Philip Springer)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to guest Tamar Springer about her composer/songwriter father Philip Springer. Now, unless you are in music publishing or a collector of film soundtracks or possibly a musical academic, the name Philip Springer might not seem like a name you would know. A ha, but if I told you he was the composer & co-writer of the hit Eartha Kitt, Christmas song “Santa Baby” then would you know? Or perhaps you’d know some of his other work which has been sung by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, from Dusty Springfield to Elvis Presley....
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Episode #266: Ed Eckstine (Billy Eckstine)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Ed Eckstine, son of smooth as silk singer & bandleader Billy Eckstine. Our chat with Ed was funny, educational, occasionally jaw dropping and always engaging. Now, before we even started our chat with Ed, upon his agreeing to be a part of the podcast, we got a list of topics from Ed that he thought we might want to discuss. Effectively, he sent us a cheat sheet that they didn’t get to on his appearance on the Questlove Supreme podcast prior to our chat. Who were we to say no? There were like 60 totally...
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Episode #265: Kat Kramer (Stanley Kramer)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Katherine Kramer, daughter of producer/director Stanley Kramer. Our chat with Katherine or Kat was both edifying and easy as we had familial connections and we learned a few things in the process. Such as? Well how about what famous actress was she named after, where in the Western United States did her family move to once they left Hollywood and what films made her father a bankable director while he was still producing. We also spoke about some of his films, many of them ‘message’ films such as Guess Who’s...
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Episode #264: Matt Axton (Hoyt Axton)
Rarified Heir Podcast
Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are speaking to musician Matt Axton about his larger-than-life actor, musician, spokesman and songwriter dad, Hoyt Axton. Now if you grew up in the eighties, you would know Hoyt from Gremlins. If you grew up in the 70s, you’d know him as the songwriter to the smash hit “Joy To The World” made popular by Three Dog Night and in the sixties perhaps the hit show Bonanza. As Matt explains to us, his dad was many things to many people, a shit kicking psychedelic cowboy, a Busch beer pitchman and even Mogwai’s dad. Everyone...
info_outlineToday on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Dick Smothers Jr., son of, who else, comedian & musician Dick Smothers, one half of the comedy team, The Smothers Brothers. On this episode, we explore some pretty intense stuff as we get into what it was like growing up with a famous father and a famous uncle whose comedy was a touchstone for comedians of the 1960s. And while Dick Smother’s was perhaps one of the best straight men in comedy, the story Dick Smothers Jr. tells us story is anything but rosey. We learn about the attention his dad craved and the strained relationship they have to this day.
Moreover, we talk about heavy metal and Dick Jr’s 80s band Kamikaze, his fascination with Alister Crowley as well as black magic and his one-time career choice to become an adult actor. Yes, this episode delves into another kind of celebrity, pornography. One we haven’t spoken about this before or acter this episode first aired but we delve into it extensively here. We discuss why Dick Jr. chose to become a porn star, why Dick Jr. didn’t change his name because…well….he already had the best name in blue movies and what it was like talking to the press knowing his famous name would draw attention. And therein lies the rub. Pun intended. This episode is a frank and serious discussion and we learn a lot about why Dick Jr. chose that career path, his relationship with his father, the challenges of being in ‘the industry’ and much more. Puritans beware!
So if black magic, pornography and heavy metal were on your Bingo card for this episode of the podcast, you are in luck! Because this is another episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast where everyone has a story. This one is likely one you have never heard before. Take a listen. Yo-Yo Man fans, hang onto your hats!