Actor Robert Blake, known for "Baretta" and "Lost Highway," dies at 89
Last edited Thu Mar 9, 2023, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: CBS News
Actor Robert Blake, whose decades-long film and television career was tarnished by a notorious murder trial, has died at the age of 89. Blake died in Los Angeles, his niece Noreen confirmed to CBS News Thursday. She said he died after a battle with heart disease, adding that he "passed away peacefully with family and friends." The Los Angeles County coroner's office told CBS News that it "did not have a report" about Blake's death. "Due to his age and reported medical history his death may not fall under our jurisdiction," a statement from the coroner's office read.
Prior to being tried and acquitted in his wife's shooting death, Blake was best known for the 1970s television series "Baretta," for which he won a best actor Emmy in 1975, and his last screen role, the 1997 film "Lost Highway." However, on May 4, 2001, Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot and killed in Blake's car near a restaurant in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. Blake was arrested on a murder charge in April 2002.
The case finally went to trial in late 2004, and Blake was acquitted by an L.A. jury in early 2005. The jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdicts on its ninth day of deliberations, following a four-month trial with a cast of characters that included two Hollywood stuntmen who said Blake tried to hire them to kill his wife. However, no eyewitnesses, blood or DNA evidence linked Blake to the crime. The murder weapon, found in a trash bin, could not be traced to Blake, and witnesses said the minuscule amounts of gunshot residue found on Blake's hands could have come from a different gun he said he carried for protection.
Blake had hundreds of film and television credits. His career began when he was a preschooler, with the role of Mickey in the 1930s and 1940s kids' comedy film series "Our Gang," which was re-run for decades on television. He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of real-life killer Perry Smith in the 1967 film "In Cold Blood." In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, "Judgment Day: The John List Story," portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children — also based on the true story of a convicted murderer.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/actor-robert-blake-baretta-lost-highway-dies-at-age-89/
I used to watch "Baretta" and certainly who could forget him as a child actor in "The Little Rascals".
That case with his wife and the trial, was the stuff of tabloids (like the Robert Wagner/Natalie Wood case) and overall, he had a tragic life.
R.I.P. and thank you for entertaining shows and appearances.
Article updated.
Original article -
Prior to being tried and acquitted in his wife's shooting death, Blake was best known for the 1970s television series "Baretta," and his last screen role, the 1997 film "Lost Highway."
However, on May 4, 2001, Blake's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot and killed in Blake's car near a restaurant in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. Blake was arrested on a murder charge in April 2002.
The case finally went to trial in late 2004, and Blake was acquitted by an L.A. jury in early 2005.
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Had never seen it before.
He played a Native American young man, and a heavily tanned Katherine Ross played his girlfriend. Interesting movie.
Never realized that was him in Little Rascals either, but looking at the pic now, its obvious.
RIP.
