Today on an encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are evolving into a new lifeform as we sit down with Julie Nimoy and husband David Knight to talk about Julie’s dad, Leonard Nimoy. Of course most of us know him as Mr. Spock, the Vulcan pop culture figure from the legendary TV show (and movies) Star Trek. But as you will hear from Julie, her father was a mercurial character who was fascinated with everything from cars to planes, from playwriting to photography, from painting to singing, there wasn’t much Leonard Nimoy didn’t do in his lifetime.

Julie & David let us in on everything you’d want to know about Leonard Nimoy including the documentary they made for PBS Remembering Leonard Nimoy to their second documentary Wilder! which came about due to an unlikely friendship between Leonard and actor Gene Wilder. Bonus points if you can tell us what film they met on. Somehow we work in Mission Impossible, Night Gallery, Baffled!, In Search of….and so much more. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story.

Encore! Encore! Yes, today we present another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, and this one was a doozy! Our guest today is Matt Asner, son of actor and activist of the beloved Ed Asner. Matt spoke with us on the podcast about a myriad of things such as his youth spent on the MTM backlot while his dad was playing Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, the story behind his dad’s controversial stint as head of the Screen Actors Guild,  films like Fort Apache The Bronx, Pixar’s Up, Elf and much more.

We also hear from Matt about his years as a musical youth in punk bands like Insect Idol & Grand Manner, time spent with his dad’s co-stars Ted Knight and Gavin McLeod as well as where his father liked to eat in Los Angeles. Most importantly we discuss Matt’s work at The Ed Asner Family Center, which provides virtual and in-person camps, adult day programs, relationship courses, arts, and vocational, enrichments for special needs individuals and their families as well as in-person and Telehealth counseling and support groups. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Richard Duggan, son of actor Andrew Duggan. Andrew was kind enough to talk to us about his father who had so many credits and tangential pop culture references, we’ll have you saying, “Ah, yeah right!” Before you know it. A star of stage, screen, television, commercials and more, Richard Duggan most recently would be known for his TV show Lancer which plays a pretty major role in the Quentin Tarantino movie Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. Believe me, we dig right in on that one. We also hear about his father’s roles opposite everyone from James Coburn, Meryl Streep, Don Knotts, Dan Aykroyd and Larry Storch. I ask you, where can you find a resume like that? From In Like Flint to Doctor Detroit, we hear all about his dad’s career in front of the camera. There’s even a few curve balls, as Andrew was the voice of a series of popular commercials for Bud Light & even won a Clio for “Friend of the Family (Rust in Peace)”.

Richard also tells us about his career in comedy & film as he passes along some great first-hand accounts of Robin Williams (who went to the same college), Andy Dick and the cult film The Toxic Avenger. I mean, how could you go wrong hearing about Kirk Douglas and Toxie? The fact is you can’t. So set your internal clocks back a tiny bit and take a listen to this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story. 

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Hugo Morley, grandson of  actor Robert Morley. Depending on what age you are and what country you grew up in, you might know Robert Morley for different things. If you are an American, you know him from his stint as the spokesman for British Airways or possibly the film Who Is Killing The Great Chef’s of Europe with George Segal and Jacqueline Bisset. It was fascinating to find out from Hugo, that Robert actually had a lot of leeway in the BA commercials direction. But if you grew up in England or Australia, you might know Robert Morley from the stage where he performed in about 100 films and starred in/wrote many plays. His career spanned more than sixty years and in fact, his first film role garnered an Academy Award nomination in 1939 as King Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette, starring Norma Shearer and Tyrone Power. That’s one hell of a debut.

Hugo was open with us and told us about (free) trips he took with his grandfather and family thanks to British Airways, of meals he shared with him and time spent in Robert Morley’s back garden. There was swimming and cigars….for Robert, not Hugo. We also learn about Hugo’s theater critic/actor father, Sheridan Morley who was quite well known in England. We learn about his influence on the musical Les Miserables, how an interview with Carol Channing led to Hugo becoming her Godmother and how Yul Brenner played a part in their relationship. Along the way we talk about everyone from Eli Wallach to David Tomlinson, Griff Rhys Jones, to Joanna Lumley and more.

This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story.

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to the son of actor Albert Eisenmann. While that name might be unfamiliar to some, if you grew up in Houston in the 1960s, you KNEW Albert Eisenmann. This episode is about local television stars and as we hear from guest Ike Eisenmann, the show Cadet Don was a massively popular children’s program when he was a boy in the NASA obsessed hometown of Houston.

Ironically, Ike decided to try acting when the family moved to Los Angeles where the plan was to have Albert’s acting career take off on a larger scale. However, it was Ike whose career took off in Los Angeles in fact, not his father’s. As you will hear, you all know Ike from films like Escape from Witch Mountain & Fantastic Journey as well as multiple television series and commercials from the 1970s onward. He was THE go-to child and young adult actor.

Ike spoke with us about the good stuff and the not so great stuff of growing up with a celebrity father whose career he eclipsed before he was even 10 years old. It’s a bit of a rough go hearing Ike’s story and we appreciated him talking so frankly about his father as well as his own career. Today, Ike co-hosts his own podcast, Pop Culture Retro with Jonathan Rosen. It’s a good one. Be sure and check it out after this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Keaton Talmadge, great-granddaughter of silent film comedic genius Buster Keaton and silent film star Natalie Talmadge. It’s a good thing we love silent film as well as talkies because talkies we did with Keaton. What about you ask? Some things you might expect and some you might not. For instance, how at one time in her life, Keaton would mention the name Buster Keaton and get a blank stare. Was there ever such a time? We also talk about Buster’s legacy in the ‘20s……of the 21st century, not 20th.

We also learn about the outrageously famous and somewhat wacky Talmadge sisters. Los Angelenos today would know them from apartment buildings and street names in and around Hollywood.  But their legacy, and that of their mother is not so much a lost story but one that isn’t frequently told. It’s a good one, especially if you like the ‘golden age of Hollywood.’ We discussed at length on this episode

We also hear about Keaton carrying on the acting tradition, when so many family members prior did not. Her voice-over work you have surely heard. We learn about her time learning acting in college, auditions and a strange but not so strange new company she started recently that isn’t just for kids. This was a very fun episode and we learned a lot. And of course, this is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story. This one goes back to the silent era.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to actress/director Jessica Pinfield, daughter of music personality & record exec. Matt Pinfield. Our conversation with Jessica was a very frank and open discussion that took us to some pretty fun places discussing early MTV and alternative radio and also to some pretty intense, dark places as well.

Through it all, Jessica is a fantastic and honest guest who talks to us about her early memories of growing up in New Jersey at alternative rock stations & indie record stores while also regaling us of stories of shows like 120 Minutes and more. Along the way however, we hear about a less than ideal side of the freewheeling world of 90s’s excess that she lived in with her dad and mom in a household that wasn’t quite Leave it to Beaver. Jessica is brutally frank about the things she saw as a kid but also as an adult in a slightly dysfunctional world of radio, television and the music industry in general. But thankfully, as we learn, Jessica and dad Matt are reconnecting and even living together in the same house all these years later, today in LA.

Better yet, we hear from Jessica about her acting and directing career she’s creating for herself today and it’s a beautiful counterbalance to everything that went on prior. Take a listen.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to two guests who have been on the podcast prior but not at the same time. We are speaking with David Jenkins, son of actor Paul Jenkins and Jordan Summers, son of actor Yale Summers.

This is a unique episode for a couple of ways, the first is that we don’t often have two guests on at the same time. And two, while they did not attend the same high school, both David and Jordan gravitated to music, rather than acting and began playing music in long gone LA clubs while still in high school, back in the 80s. What’s more is that that love of playing music never left them and they get together at the world famous (ahem) Kibbitz Room at Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles for monthly jam sessions. The thing is, these aren’t your regular jam sessions. Quite a few big name musicians have joined them on stage playing rock, soul, Motown, disco, pop and more. Like who you ask? Well, listen in to find out who was doing it in the “Middle of the Road” with a “Super Freak”

Talking to David & Jordan was like hearing to a strangely reminiscent version of host Josh Mills’ own youth as familiar names, places and people come up in our conversation, it’s almost like being there. Sort of. This encore episode is one is for all you music fans out there. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to James Tomlinson, son of actor David Tomlinson. James was incredibly gracious with his time and patient with the lag of an international podcast recording and really spent some time talking to us about the big, and small stuff, about growing up the son of Mary Poppins employer, Mr. Banks.

Of course we talk about the Disney films David Tomlinson was known for – the aforementioned Mary Poppins, The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks but we also discuss his massive career prior to Walt & company on the British stage and screen. We hear about films like Warning for Warriors, Miranda and Up the Creek to name a few. We also hear about how a role in a light comedy on the London stage led him to his most famous character on the big screen.

James was also incredibly open as we discuss the tragedies his father endured and the very awkward family life that his father dealt him. We also discussed his dad’s time as a flight instructor for the RAF in WWII as well of that of his two brothers. Plus we hear about David’s own father who lived a very conventional life. I mean lives. I mean, more than one. We get into that shocking story and his grandfather’s backstory of WWI that is hard to believe.

This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story. And this one, you won’t forget.

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 also delve into his mother’s ‘issues’ with her onscreen husband Tom Bosley but you are going to have to read her book, My Days: happy and Otherwise for those juicy details.

Our conversation with Jim centers around his years growing up with a single parent mother who struggled to make it in Hollywood after her divorce from Jim’s father. But we also talk about the salad days as well – checking out the set of Happy Days and the very homey, family atmosphere that show provided.  What started as a chance meeting with a casting director led his mother to becoming a household name in very little time at all.

We also spoke to Jim about his years acting in film and TV and commercials (he was Colonel Sanders after all in numerous KFC ads), his then-recent film Gaslight as well as his ‘breakthrough’ on America’s Got Talent with his amazing impressions, I mean Jim-pressions. (Ahem). Plus we hear some terrific stories about Rich Little, Phyllis Diller and Clark Gable that you won’t want to miss. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Another child of a celebrity, interviewed by a child of a celebrity. Take a listen.