Episode #132: Chrissy Quinn (Louis Quinn, Christine Nelson)

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05/30/23 • 72 min

2 Listeners

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 Berle and we discuss some legends Louis worked with like Ray Bolger and Edd “Kookie” Byrnes. We also talk about her mother, Christine Nelson, a funny lady who is deeply connected to Allan Sherman – she is in fact Sarah Jackman from his My Son The Folk Singer as well as her own comedy album Didj’a Come Here to Play Cards, Or to Talk? for all you deep dive comedy nerds. We say that with affection by the way.

We also hear about Chrissy’s own comedy career, a bonkers story about befriending Robin Williams before he was a megastar on Mork & Mindy as well as stories about having the real Bozo-The Clown appear at her birthday, her Godfather Sammy Davis Jr. & her dad’s role in the film: Vasectomy : A Delicate Matter. So join us won’t you on this encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Previous Episode

Episode # 131: Kiki Ebsen (Buddy Ebsen)

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 catamarans and he had great comic skills. Some of this we might have known from shows like The Beverly Hillbillies or Barnaby Jones but did you know Buddy Ebsen’s career began when he was discovered by newsman Walter Winchell with his sister as part of a dancing team? Or he was cast in the original The Wizard of Oz but wasn’t able to be on screen due to reasons we discuss with Kiki? Or that he was the test case for Walt Disney and modern animatronics? No? Well keep listening.

We spoke to Kiki about her upcoming June residency at the El Portal Theater in Los Angeles each Friday in June for her one woman show about her father, My Buddy, The Other Side of Oz. Part memoir, part cabaret and part tribute to her father, the show showcases Kiki’s storytelling but her singing as well. It’s a love of music that led her to Cal Arts which then led in quick succession a job on the road with the band Chicago and then gigs with Tracy Chapman, Boz Scaggs, Christopher Cross & Al Jarreau among others. Working as a professional musician for other people led Kiki to record nine of her own solo albums in the past decade or so and just recently licensing her songs from the 80s to a label who will release them later this year.

Along the way we talk about shows & movies like Matt Houston, Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer, The Kent Chronicles as well as actors Lee Meriwether, Mike Connors, James Arness and more. It was a blast talking to Kiki for this episode and we certainly hope you will like it too. So take a listen to the Rarified Heir podcast with Kiki Ebsen, coming up right now. Everyone has a story.

Next Episode

Encore #133: Hollye Dexter (Dan Haggerty)

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 a star. Along the way, we discuss bikers, Battle of the Network Stars, the film Easy Rider, step-siblings Kristy McNichol and Jimmy McNichol, domesticated wolves, circus performers, a step-father named Bullet and much more.

We also learn about Dan’s restaurants and fur/hide stores post Grizzly Adams, Hollye’s years singing with Dionne Warwick, Don Felder & Stephen Bishop, her political activism and her book Fire Season based on a harrowing real life story that you won’t believe. So while technically, Dan Haggerty wasn’t Hollye’s biological father, she grew up with Dan and was raised alongside his kids, her cousins, in very 70s LA, post hippie domesticity. As we like to say, take a listen to another child of a celebrity interviewed by the child of a celebrity. Everyone has a story. But this one has one about a lion named Samson that lived at home.