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General Hospital's Blackie Parrish was a character played by John Stamos from 1982-1984. Parrish was introduced as a street kid without a stable family. Lesley Webber and Doctor Richard Webber, who were grieving the disappearance of their daughter, Laura Spencer at the time, adopted him.
Parrish's character arc saw him involved in his adoptive father's efforts to revamp the decrepit Waterfront district by launching a community sports center. He then became the boyfriend of Lou Swenson, a runaway he discovered inside a construction trailer.
He would later pursue a music career by forming the band 'Blackie and the Riff Raff' and becoming its principal songwriter. However, his struggles with writer's block would lead to a tragedy in his life that would result in him being imprisoned.
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Why did Blackie Parrish from General Hospital go to prison?
Blackie Parrish's music career took off after he hired a manager for the band, and brought in Frisco Jones as lead singer. Blackie and his band moved into the Port Charles hotel as they fully committed themselves.
However, at this point, the pressure of writing a hit song got to Parrish, and he began to suffer from writer's block. He eventually resorted to plagiarism, copying a song the hotel bellboy, Josh Clayton had written, and passing it off as his own.
He was found out by none other than his girlfriend, Lou, who confronted him with Josh's mixtape. Blackie's manager tried to snatch the tape from Lou, only for her to fall and hit her head. Blackie Parrish ended up taking the fall for her death, ending his onscreen run on General Hospital by getting imprisoned for manslaughter.
Since then, he's been mentioned a few times on the soap. In 1987, a friend of Blackie's, Dustin Walker, spoke to Frisco and said that Blackie had been released from prison sometime last year. In 2014, Blackie was mentioned again by Lucy Coe as someone who was invited to perform at the Nurses Ball but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts.
John Stamos's Instagram post gave renewed attention to Blackie Parrish
On June 26, 2024, John Stamos made an Instagram post reminiscing on his time at the soap and what it did for his career. He said:
“I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again -without General Hospital I’d probably still be flipping burgers at my dad‘s restaurant. I’m so grateful to the cast, crew and my good friends that were great mentors and great teachers. God bless General Hospital!”
The scene he posted wasn't about him playing Blackie, however. It was, instead, a guest spot in 1992 where he starred as himself, and was noticed by a starstruck Scott Baldwin (played by John's real-life friend, Kin Shriner). Scott proceeds to break the fourth wall by outright saying that he loved watching John in General Hospital.
Despite this post not confirming anything, it has sparked the fandom's hopes of Blackie Parrish potentially returning to the soap opera. However, given how he was last mentioned in 2014, it wouldn't be out of character for Blackie Parrish to make a return to General Hospital one day.
Blackie Parrish was an iconic and impactful character on General Hospital. The role launched John Stamos's acting career, and it remains fondly remembered by both the fans and the actors. The soap airs on ABC on weekdays.
