Blackie Dammett

Blackie Dammett
Born	John Kiedis December 7, 1939 (1939-12-07) Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Film, television actor
Years active	1967-2011
Spouse	Maragaret "Peggy" Idema (1960-1968) (divorced) (1 child)
Children	Anthony Kiedis (b. 1962)

Blackie Dammett or "Spider" (born John Kiedis; /ˈkiːdɪs/ KEE-diss; IPA: [ˈkʲɛdɪs]; 7 December 1939) is an American actor and father of Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Name

He legally changed his name to Blackie Dammett as a tribute to his favorite writer Dashiell Hammett. In Scar Tissue, Anthony describes how his father frequented the Rainbow Bar and Grill where he sold drugs to rock icons such as the members of Led Zeppelin and The Who's Keith Moon. As an actor, he appeared in the films National Lampoon's Class Reunion (1982), Meatballs Part II (1984) and Lethal Weapon (1987), among others. He also made frequent television appearances, on such shows as Starsky and Hutch, Trapper John, M.D. and It's Garry Shandling's Show.

Family

According to Anthony Kiedis' autobiography, Scar Tissue, his grandfather Antanas Kiedis (1878–1949) and grandmother Julija (1883–1948) were Lithuanian immigrants. John was the youngest child in the family and the only American-born. In 2008 it was reported that Anthony Kiedis was developing a television series for HBO titled "Spider and Son", loosely based on Anthony's autobiography Scar Tissue. The show was originally scheduled to premiere in late 2010 but wasn't picked up as a series, despite a pilot script penned by John Sayles. The show has since been picked up by the FX network though it is unknown when production will begin.

Blackie was close friends in the 70s with actor and musician, Sonny Bono who eventually became Anthony's godparent. Dammett was acquainted with the late Israeli novelist, Dahn Ben Amotz, whom he met through a mutual friend, Marlon Brando.

Personal Biography

Blackie has signed an exclusive publishing deal with Christopher Matthew Spencer's The Spencer Company. After years of work, Blackie's still yet to be titled biography will be released on July 4, 2012.

Residence

As of 2007, Dammett lives in Portland, Oregon.^{[citation needed]}

Band Involvement

For many years Dammett ran both the website and fanclub for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. To this day he still is in direct contact with many fans of his son's band through his own Facebook and My Space pages.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1977	Nowhere to Hide	John
1978	Jokes My Folks Never Told Me
1979	Mr. Horn	Small Rustler
1981	Midnight Lace	Herman Laird
1982	Kiss My Grits	Bat Paterson
	National Lampoon's Class Reunion	Walter Baylor
1983	The Lost Empire	Prager
	Doctor Detroit	Eddie Four Eyes
1984	Meatballs Part II	Sgt. Paladin
1985	Nine Deaths of the Ninja	Alby the Cruel
	The Boys Next Door	Bartender
1986	52 Pick-up	Drug Dealer
1987	Lethal Weapon	Drug Dealer #3
1988	A Night at the Magic Castle	Evil Magician
	The American Scream	Pastor
1989	L.A. Bounty	James Maxwell
1990	Instant Karma	Ed Polski

Television appearances

• Hammer, Slammer & Slade (1990)
• Adam 12 (1990) (Emmerson Cooper)
• Hunter (guest star)
• Crime Story (guest star)
• Night Court (guest star)
• Who's the Boss? (guest star)
• Trapper John, M.D. (guest star)
• The Fall Guy (guest star)
• The Lady in Red (Immigration Officer, guest star)
• Starsky and Hutch (Charles Deek, guest star)
• Charlie's Angels (guest star)
• ALF (guest star in pilot)

External links

• The Spencer Company (Publisher of his upcoming autobiography)
• Press Release Regarding Dammett's Autobiography
• Blackie Dammett at the Internet Movie Database
• Blackie's Facebook page
• Blackie Dammett on Myspace