Peter Blake

A familiar face with fans of British comedy, actor Peter Blake is perhaps best known for his portrayal of sex-obsessed divorcé Kirk St. Moritz on the popular BBC sitcom "Dear John." Hailing from Selkirk, Scotland, Blake, a high school dropout, worked various odd jobs before successfully auditioning for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. After training at the school from 1966 to 1969, Blake gained valuable stage experience as part of the Edinburgh Festival and the Glasgow Citizens Company, and even performed for a time as "Frank-n-Furter" in a British stage production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Despite his theater background, Blake's early TV roles were relegated to minor character parts as postmen, policemen, and other uniformed workers. In 1979 he earned his breakthrough role as the male lead in the period drama "Penmarric," and went on to join the cast of the successful comedy "Agony." But it was Blake's appearance as bare-chested lothario Kirk St. Moritz on the late-'80s sitcom "Dear John" that made him an overnight television sensation--a feat the actor has seldom matched in his later work.