Today on another encore edition of The Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Eric Bonerz, son of actor and director Peter Bonerz. Host Josh Mills goes way back with Eric, who, while slightly older, attended the same Oakwood School that has become somewhat synonymous with this podcast. Like Josh, Oakwood was a Petri dish of children of celebrities and it’s partially the impetus for this podcast.

Our conversation with Eric was full of humor, pop culture references, lost LA lore and bizarre interactions with the film, TV, music and the world of animation if you can believe it. Eric recounts his father’s career as a comedic actor coming up in theater in San Francisco in the 60s and takes us on a journey through television in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Best known to fans as Jerry the Dentist on The Bob Newhart Show, Peter Bonerz moved behind the camera and became an in-demand television director with more than 350 credits to his name. So while we discuss shows like Wings and Murphy Brown, we also hear about Eric’s time on the set of the film Catch-22 as well as an evening spent in the Manson house with Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor. Whoa.

Somehow on this episode we discuss AMC Jeeps, the Beastie Boys, the band Primus, actor Chuck McCann, actor Keir Dullea, the Jerry Lewis film, The Day The Clown Cried and much more. Eric is a touchstone to so many things, it just feels like he’s in the DNA of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Listen and find out for yourself, right now.

Today on an encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to siblings Deb Scott Studebaker & Stan Warnow about their musician/inventor Raymond Scott. Like our good friend Ernie Kovacs, some of you might have heard the name Raymond Scott but don’t really know who he was or what he did. Others however, might be salivating knowing that one of the 20thCenturies musical geniuses is the subject of this episode. Either way, both Deb and Stan graciously sat down together to do this interview & wowed us with tales of their complex genius dad.

Vintage cartoon fans might know Scott from his songs “Powerhouse” and “Toy Trumpet,” classic television and radio fans may know him and his orchestra from the show “Your Hit Parade” and others may know him as the Godfather of the modern synthesizer & inventor of the Clavinex & Electronium. A performer, a demanding band leader, a composer and the Director of Motown’s electronic and research department, Raymond Scott was nothing if not prolific.

In addition, we discuss Deb’s mother, entertainer Dorothy Collins who was a Broadway star, a nightclub performer and a television star on shows like The Hollywood Palace. We get the lowdown on a father so driven by his creations he gave up performing for tinkering in his office and being one of the founders of electronic music as well as fax machine – decades before it became a reality. It's positively Looney Tunes on this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Today on another encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we speak to guest Kelly Conway daughter of comedy legend Tim Conway. This episode is equal parts fun and funny as well as difficult and heavy as Kelly tells us about the wonderful early years with her father as well as the end-of-life care battle that she had to endure in his later years. It’s the stuff you won’t soon forget.

We discuss her father’s career in comedy, beginning in Cleveland with comedian/voice over actor (and sometimes television horror show host) Ernie Anderson. Moreover, we were blown away to learn that Tim Conway was nominated for a whopping 13 Emmy awards. But through it all, Tim Conway was a fantastic father who made family life a priority with silliness and games and is the focus of Conway’s biography, My Dad is Funnier Than Your Dad.

We discuss her father’s connections to Carol Burnett, Steve and Eydie, Bob Newhart, Mike Connors, which were both personal as well as professional. Kelly also doesn’t shy away from the dark chapter in the Conway story as the elder Conway became less able to take care of himself. We hear stories about how he was cared for by his second wife and her daughter that is one of the most difficult interviews we have ever done. Somehow Kelly is able to guide us on a journey that had us laughing one minute and on the verge of tears the next. Through it all, Kelly is warm, self-effacing and brutally honest about her father, whom she loved dearly. Take a listen to this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast and keep the Kleenex handy.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Lisa Sutton, daughter of singer Lynn Anderson & music producer Glenn Sutton. Lisa grew up in Nashville, home to her parents and their ‘Countrypolitan sound’ they helped make famous. What’s countrypolitan you ask? Good question. It’s definitely country music but typically with lush string arrangements, an orchestra and a more stylized sound than what country music is known for prior. It’s a sound her Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame father and her mother Lynn made famous with the massive Joe South penned hit “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.”

We also talk to Lisa about her perhaps lesser known but perhaps more influential grandparents Casey Anderson and Liz Anderson whose roots in country music as songwriters, performers and connectors led them to a fortuitus meeting with the poet of the common man, Merle Haggard. He gave them their start. Of course we talk roses – it’s a theme in Lisa’s life that connects back to her mom’s massive hit, horses, the National Enquirer and how her father’s songs were recorded by everyone from The Louvin Brothers to Etta James. Fans of country music rejoice, we have a winner on this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast with Lisa Sutten. Take a listen.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Valarie Long, daughter of actors Richard Long and Mara Corday. At times our conversation was breezy, at times difficult and at other times funny, Valerie really took some time with this interview because there was so much to discuss.

From health issues that plagued Richard his whole life to some of those same issues that Valerie herself faced, we hear about how her father was plucked from obscurity as a high school senior at Hollywood High School and within no time was working on films with Orson Welles, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young and Edward G. Robinson. We also discuss her father’s first marriage prior to meeting the pinup girl Playboy model turned actress Mara Corday, to a young ingénue named Suzan Ball who tragically passed away at age 22 when Richard was only 23 whose tragic story is one we had never heard of prior to connecting to Valerie.

Somehow we end up talking to Valerie about people like Clint Eastwood, Peter Marshall, Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Roddy McDowell, Dan Rowan and Sit John Mills. We also discuss iconic TV shows like The Big Valley, The Twilight Zone, 77 Sunset Strip, Nanny and the Professor and more. We discuss movies like Tarantula, Sudden Impact, Tomorrow is Forever, Ma and Pa Kettle and Make Like a Thiefand others. It’s a rollicking conversation that was equal parts funny, heartwarming and poignant and we thank Valerie for shying away from nothing in our conversation.. But that’s how things happen on the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story. And this one is a keeper.

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Carrie Mitchum, daughter of actor Christopher Mitchum, granddaughter to iconic actor Robert Mitchum and mother to actor Grace Van Dien. And while that’s a lot of actors in your family, we haven’t even mentioned her actor brother, her actor uncle, her great actor or her own acting career! I’m talking actors! That’s quite a family business! The Fonda’s, the Bridges’ and the Douglas’s aint got nothing on The Mitchum’s. Although maybe the Huston’s rival all this. Anyway, I digress….

We jumped around on the latest episode with Carrie because there was frankly so much to talk about. Of course we wanted to know what life was like with Grampa Robert – and we do. But we also heard so much about her own acting career starting with the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as well as her time growing up in Europe and Asia on movie sets starring her father. Moreover, it’s a total trip to know she had cookies on sitting on the lap of one of Europe’s most feared dictators as part of that experience.

We also talk to Carrie about her grandfather’s film and his recording career, her father’s films with John Wayne, growing up at the Green Acres estate with Harold Lloyd and our prior guest Suzanne Lloyd, the poetry of Robert Mitchum, her daughters time on Stranger Things, grampa’s favorite food, being on the set of the film, That Championship Season, how no one really knows a family dynamic just by reading a tabloid, what NAR means, The Mitchum Steakhouse, being married to a “sex symbol” and much more. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast and everyone has a story.

Today on another encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking with….host Josh Mills. Yes, on this episode, our 100th, we somehow wrangled guest Daisy Torme, daughter of singer Mel Torme and actress Janette Scott to be a guest host as part of this special episode.

In fact, it was because of this podcast that we reconnected with Daisy and her brother James Torme months prior which led to a few lunches, quite a few laughs and much merriment. So when we were thinking of what to do for our 100th episode, it seemed pretty simple as to who we’d like to mix things up with. Daisy was kind enough to slip behind the proverbial desk and guest host the podcast and interview the host about his life. What a concept.

Daisy was terrific in her newfound role as we discussed family connections, Josh’s mom’s, Edie Adams career, celebrities connections we had in common, family music publishing and a whole lot more. It’s also safe to say that Josh had a good time as guest. Because, after all who doesn’t have the “Enough about me, what about me?” syndrome? So we touched on quite a bit that maybe in prior episodes we danced around but didn’t fully explain. Here, on this episode – we do.

So please enjoy this latest encore episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast this American Thanksgiving week 2024 and remember, everyone has a story. Even the host. Another child of a celebrity, interviewed by another child of a celebrity. With a twist. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast.

Today on Part Two of our conversation about silent film stars Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we continue our conversation with Suzanne Lloyd, their granddaughter who was raised as their daughter. Last week we laid the groundwork on the life and legacy of one of the silent era’s greatest comedians. This week, we discuss the life Suzanne led in the family’s Green Acres 16 acre estate in Benedict Canyon. Harold seemed to have a way with money and he indulged all his passions with abandon. Although retired when Suzanne was growing up, Harold remained very active in his passions. Be it photography, the Shriners hospital, the estate itself or even his passion for bowling with Howard Hughes, we get into it all.

Topics discussed in this episode include: Harold’s passion for Stereo, Rick Nelson, TV director Richard Correll, Debbie Reynolds, the Blacklist, Paul McCartney & Wings, Disneyland, the Rolling Stones, Marilyn Monroe, Roddy McDowell, Harmon Kardon audio and more. Along the way we discuss 3-D photography, pipe organs and an almost ridiculous obsession with Christmas and Christmas trees you have to hear to believe. But we get into it, oh yes we do!

We pick up our conversation with Suzanne mid-interview as we compare Ernie Kovacs to Harold Lloyd on this episode, of this episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story. Enjoy.