Who was John Stamos on General Hospital? Everything you need to know

General Hospital is one of the soap operas that launched John Stamos's career. From 1982-1984, he played the character of Blackie Parrish - a delinquent child who was adopted by Doctor Richard Webber and Lesley Webber.

Richard and Lesley were deeply invested in revamping the neglected Waterfront district, and Blackie joined them in their efforts, getting involved in their community sports center. Blackie went on to start his own music career with the band "Blackie and the Riff Raff."

However, after making an ill-fated attempt at plagiarizing someone else's music, he ended up going to prison for the death of his girlfriend, Lou Swenson. Later, John Stamos appeared as himself in a fourth-wall-breaking cameo in the soap opera in 1992, where he played himself and was recognized as an actor from General Hospital.

---

John Stamos played the role of musician Blackie Parrish in General Hospital

John Stamos played Blackie Parrish on the soap. Blackie began pursuing a career in music after participating in his adoptive parents' efforts to establish a community sports center to revitalize the Waterfront district. Then, Blackie formed a band named "Blackie and the Riff-Raff".

His career reached greater heights when he hired Firsco Jones as the lead singer and obtained a manager for the band. Blackie and his bandmates moved to Port Charles Hotel where they committed to their music careers in earnest.

However, the pressures of being in a band took a toll on Blackie, who eventually developed writer's block and struggled to come up with new ideas for a hit single. Crumbling under the stress, he eventually resorted to plagiarizing the music written by the hotel bellboy, Josh Clayton, and passing it off as his own.

Blackie's scheme was uncovered by none other than Lou Swenson, a runaway he'd befriended, and who'd become his girlfriend. Lou had gotten hold of Josh's mixtape, and she confronted Blackie and his manager about it.

This resulted in the manager trying to snatch the tape away from her, causing Lou to fall and hit her head. Lou died as a consequence of this altercation. Meanwhile, Blackie took responsibility for the whole affair and agreed to go to prison for manslaughter.

He was released offscreen, with his friend Dustin Walker speaking of this development in 1987. Blackie was once again mentioned during General Hospital's 2014 run as one of the people invited to perform for the Nurses Ball.

---

John Stamos also appeared in a cameo as himself

After his character arc as Blackie Parrish was over, John Stamos appeared as himself in a 1992 episode. When reminiscing about his time on the soap, John Stamos shared a scene on his Instagram on June 26, 2024 and wrote in the caption:

“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.”

In his cameo, John Stamos was seen sitting at a restaurant where he was recognized by Scott Baldwin (played by John Stamos's real-life friend, Kin Shriner). Scott was utterly starstruck upon meeting him and tried to touch his hair. Scott eventually introduced himself to John Stamos and broke the fourth wall by saying he loved his performance in GH.

---

John Stamos built a successful acting career after his stint on the ABC show General Hospital. Notably, he portrayed the character of Jesse Kastopolis in the sitcom Full House.