Robert Blake, the actor acquitted in his wife’s murder, has died at the age of 89

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy Award-winning actor who went from acclaim to notoriety after being tried and acquitted in the murder of his wife, died Thursday at the age of 89.

Blake died at home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, according to a statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin.

Blake, the star of the 1970s TV show Baretta, had hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the ordeal that began on May 4, 2001, with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced, and its violent end was played out in court like a Hollywood tragedy.

Blake, who was once regarded as one of the finest actors of his generation, became better known as the focus of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many people remembered him as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant rather than the rugged, dark-haired star of Baretta.

He bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide in a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while incarcerated awaiting trial: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

He was adamant that he did not murder his wife, and he was eventually acquitted by a jury. A civil jury, however, would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, forcing him into bankruptcy. Rose Lenore, his and Bakley’s daughter, was raised by other relatives and went years without seeing Blake until they spoke in 2019. She told People magazine that she called him “Robert” rather than “Dad.”

It was an ignominious end to a life spent in the spotlight since childhood. As a child, he appeared in the Our Gang comedies and in the film classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. As an adult, he received praise for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s best-selling true crime novel In Cold Blood.

His career peaked with the TV cop series Baretta from 1975 to 1978. He played a detective with a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and a penchant for disguises. It was typical of his work, with tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was frequently quoted.

Blake won an Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta in 1975, despite the fact that the show was plagued by disputes involving the volatile star. He was known as one of Hollywood’s best actors, but also one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to having struggled with alcohol and drug addiction in his youth.

Blake won another Emmy in 1993 for his performance as the title character in Judgment Day: the John List Story, in which he played a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

Blake’s career had slowed considerably prior to the trial. After the mid-1980s, he only appeared in a few films, the most recent being David Lynch’s Lost Highway in 1997. Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films,” according to his niece.

Michael James Gubitosi was born on September 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant, and mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to be successful in the entertainment industry. Blake was two years old when he joined a family vaudeville act called The Three Little Hillbillies with his brother and sister.

When his parents relocated the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the children as movie extras, and little Mickey Gubitosi was picked out of the crowd by producers who cast him in the Our Gang comedies. He was in the series for five years and went by the name Bobby Blake.

He went on to work with Hollywood legends, portraying a young John Garfield in Humoresque in 1946 and the little boy who sells a crucial lottery ticket to Humphrey Bogart in the Oscar-winning The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

He landed serious film roles as an adult. In Cold Blood was the biggest breakthrough in 1967. Later, films such as Tell Them Willie Boy is Here and Electra Glide in Blue were released.

Blake married actress Sondra Kerr in 1961, and they had two children, Noah and Delinah. In 1983, they divorced.

His fateful encounter with Bakley occurred in 1999, at a jazz club where he had gone to escape loneliness.

Actor Robert Blake takes a breather inside the Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles on March 27, 2003. Blake, the Emmy Award-winning actor who went from acclaim to notoriety after being tried and acquitted of murdering his wife, died on March 9, 2023, at the age of 89.

“I was 67 or 68 years old at the time. My life had been put on hold. My career had come to a halt “he stated in an interview with the Associated Press. “I’d been alone for quite some time.”

He claimed there was no reason for him to dislike Bakley: “She escorted me out of the stands and back into the arena. I had a reason to live.”

When Bakley gave birth to a daughter, she named Christian Brando, Marlon’s son, as the father. However, DNA tests pointed to Blake.

Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old, and she quickly became the centre of his attention. He married Bakley for the child.

“Rosie is my ancestor. Rosie is summoning me “He stated. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I will walk off together into the sunset.”

Prosecutors would claim that he planned to murder Bakley in order to gain sole custody of the child and attempted to hire hitmen for the job. However, the evidence was muddled, and the jury rejected that theory.

Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at Vitello’s, a neighbourhood restaurant, on her last night alive. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had left behind inadvertently. Police were initially perplexed, and Blake was not apprehended until a year after the crime.

He was once a wealthy man, but after spending millions on his defence, he was reduced to living on social security and a Screen Actors Guild pension.

Blake told the Associated Press a year after his acquittal that he hoped to restart his career.

“I’d like to give my best effort,” he stated. “I’d like to leave Rosie with a legacy of who I am. I’m not quite ready for a dog and a fishing pole. I’d like to go to bed each night hoping to wake up the next morning and work some magic.”