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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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....
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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 the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Nikki Nash, daughter of musician, trombonist Dick Nash. Now, you may not know the face or the name, Dick Nash but you certainly know his work with Henry Mancini, or should we say Hank Mancini with some of his best known work. Before the Wrecking Crew, Dick and a small group of side-men WERE the Wrecking Crew, playing on hundreds of studio dates for film, TV and major label albums in the 50s and 60s. But as we learn, Dick Nash didn’t take every date offered for a very specific reason.
Our conversation with Nikki centered around her new book, Collateral Stardust: Chasing Warren Beatty and Other Foolish Things, an autobiography about her life in and around show business that is one hell of a read. Some of the things we talk about in our conversation with Nikki include notable run-ins with everyone from the aforementioned Warren Beatty, as well as Dennis Miller, Louise Lasser, Don Cornelius, Robert Hays, the Black Panthers, Robert Altman and many others. We also discuss long-lost LA restaurants like The Old World and The Luau, the best toast, the job of an A.D. behind the camera, addiction, painting, depression, growing up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and much more.
Nikki was open, honest, funny, matter-of-fact, attentive and gave us all we could handle in discussing her life and her book. And like her book, our interview was breezy and also had a lot of depth below the surface. But don’t take my word for it, take a listen to this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast and see for yourself. Everyone has a story.