Episode 165: Radames Pera (Lisa Pera / Leeza Vinnichenko)

Explicit content warning

01/16/24 • 70 min

2 Listeners

Today on the first part of a two part episode of the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are speaking to Radames Pera whose name you might know as well as that of his mother actor Lisa Pera. Because this episode is so jam packed – and we honestly didn’t even get to half of the stuff we wanted to talk about- so we split this episode into two parts. On this episode, we discuss Radames’ being a child actor in not one but two of the 70s most beloved television series. He is best known as young Caine or Grasshopper, if you like, in the series Kung Fu, a show that not only launched the martial arts craze but also a film that launched a global phenomenon that still resonates to this day. Radames also starred in Little House on the Prairie in a recurring role as John Jr.

Lisa Pera on the other hand, got her start in film and television as well, beginning in 1965 on the show Combat! in an episode directed by Vic Morrow. From there, she starred in films like The Hindenburg as well as shows like Perry Mason, Get Smart Man from Atlantis and even Hawaii 5-0 where she starred with Radames as his mother. Novel casting, that.

Radames pulls no punches (no pun intended) on this episode as we explore his life being raised by a mother too young and emotionally unequipped to deal with raising a child after a horrific childhood of her own. Being a Ukrainian -Russian finding herself in Nazi Germany and eventually the United States after WWII is jaw dropping stuff that doesn’t seem real. Suffices to say, this Part one is a ‘buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride’ episode. But it’s frankly just a palette cleanser for episode #2, coming next week. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Previous Episode

Episode # 164: Nicky Trebek (Alex Trebek)

Today on this encore edition of the Rarified Heir Podcast we are talking to Nicky Trebek, daughter of Alex Trebek. Our conversation with Nicky was a fun one as host Josh Mills grew up on the same street as Nicky in the freewheelin’ 1970s San Fernando Valley and as we discuss those years as a starting point and off we went. Along the way we had many wonderful tangents including what famous director and his actress wife lived on that street, the personal connection their parents had with the Italian Stallion – Sylvester Stallone & his first wife Sasha, the NHL hockey connection that Alex had when the Los Angeles Kings played their games at the Fabulous Forum, the allure of Leif Garrett*, what it was like working on & with her dad on the game show Jeopardy!, Nicky’s mother Elaine who was a CBC broadcaster and even a discussion about fellow Canuck, comedian Eugene Levy whose impression of her dad on SCTV was letter perfect.

It was terrific to reconnect with Nicky as we learned so much about the icon as well as the father that was Nicky’s dad. We learned what times were best for taping Jeopardy! if you wanted to eat dinner at home and the personal battle Alex Trebek fought after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis that took his life only a year and a few months after his very public announcement. It’s one thing to be a fan pulling for Alex to get well, but it’s quite another to hear about his private battle behind the scenes. This is the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.

Next Episode

Episode 166: Radames Pera (Lisa Pera / Leeza Vinnichenko) (Part Two)

Today on part two of our interview with Radames Pera, we continue our conversation with the former actor known best as Grasshopper from the TV-series Kung-Fu. Believe us when we say, we wish we had another hour or two with Radames to get to all the stories that make up his own story, that of his mother’s story and that of his absentee father whose invention became a worldwide success that he unfortunately didn’t patent it.

On this episode, we discuss the Coogan law, a law that if you don’t know about you will get a crash course in this episode. Radames, like all child actors was protected under this law that was enacted in 1939 but was never totally enforced. We also learn through a YouTube video Radames posted about his mother actress Lisa Para whose addiction disorder became so acute, it had to be documented. Why? We discuss that on the episode and really we don’t even scratch the surface due to time constraints. All we can tell you is, Radames has a healthy and wonderfully openness to plainly discuss some of the most personal stories from his life. And for that, we thank him. Take a listen to part two of our interview with Radames Pera on the Rarified Heir Podcast. Everyone has a story.