Peter Blake

Peter Blake, born John Beattie Dempsey (8 December 1948 – 21 July 2018) was a Scottish actor. Probably best known as the character Kirk St Moritz in the BBC sitcom Dear John, by John Sullivan, his other high-profile moments came through his playing of a 'Fonz'-type character in Pepsi-Cola commercials which led to a hit record in 1977 "Lipsmackin' Rock 'n' Rollin", Andy Evol the disc-jockey in Agony with Maureen Lipman for LWT and in an episode of Taggart ("Do or Die") as Sgt. Bill Kent. He also had a long association with The Rocky Horror Show playing Frank-N-Furter over a thousand times between 1975 and 1994. Early life Peter Blake was born John Beattie Dempsey on 8 December 1948 in Selkirk, Scotland. He was always referred to by his parents as Ian, the Scottish Gaelic term for John. He began his career as an aspiring pop star before turning to acting; his first professional appearance was at the Edinburgh International Festival, in Frank Dunlop's 'Pop Theatre''' production of The Winter's Tale, at the Assembly Hall, in 1966. Theatre Peter Blake trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and joined the Citizens' Theatre Company, performing in a production of Twelfth Night, and Michael Blakemore's original production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui which opened in September 1967 at the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow and, in August 1968, performed at The Lyceum, Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Festival.