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.
I met Radames on July 12th, 2019 in Minnesota at the Little House 45th Anniversary. But before I met him, I kept contact with him beginning in April 2019 as I was in the early stages of making a Radames Pera Tribute Video that’s now on Youtube. After mentioning the idea for the video to Radames, he was all in for it and he now knows about the video.
I’ve been a fan of Radames since I was 8 (I’m now 57) as his acting talents stood out to me for a kid actor in the 1970s to act in dramatic roles which caught my attention.
Today I continue to keep in contact in video chats and everything he mentioned in this interview is 100% accurate and as all of the stories he told was passed on to me.
Radames in a very classy man. I couldn’t ask for a better human being and a great friend. His great talents as a kid actor and the challenges he faced as a child is above and beyond anything most kids faced.
To show my gratitude to Mr Pera, I had a portrait of Radames and his mom in a 1969 photo on the eve of the screening of his first film. The photo is the same one posted on this site. I sent the portrait to his home in France and he was very excited to recieve it.
Thank You for this part 1 interview and Thank You for having the best child actor of the 70s on your show.
Jon from Massachusetts.