Actor Robert Blake 'In Cold Blood' 'Baretta' has died.
Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.
A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.
Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, "Baretta," had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.
It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the "Our Gang" comedies and acted in a movie classic, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/robert-blake-actor-acquitted-wifes-002148039.html
I used to watch him when he appeared on Johnny Carson. It was like watching a grenade about to go off.
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Yeah, I thought he was pretty tightly wrapped myself.
He was taking voice lessons at the place I worked to prepare for the role of John List, who ironically killed his entire family in New Jersey in 1971.
We were talking together as we were eating a Costco chicken over the sink.
