Robert Blake, an actor who won an Emmy and became famous when he was tried and found not guilty of killing his wife, died on Thursday at the age of 89. Robert Blake, who won an Emmy and became famous in show business after he was tried for killing his wife and found not guilty, died Thursday at the age of 89. Blake’s niece, Noreen Austin, said in a statement that he had a heart attack at his Los Angeles home, where his family was with him.
Blake, who played Baretta on TV in the 1970s, had hoped to make a comeback. However, he never got over a long ordeal that started in 2001 and ended with a shooting outside the studio dining room of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley on May 4. The story of her strange marriage, the children it gave her, and the violent way it ended is a Hollywood tragedy that happened in court. Blake was once called one of the best actors of his generation, but now he’s better known for being the accused in a real-life murder case that’s stranger than anything he’s been in.
In 2002, while he was waiting for his trial, he told fans across the country in an interview with The Associated Press, “It hurts because America is the only family I have.” He said he didn’t kill his wife, and in the end, a jury agreed with him. But a civil jury would find that he was to blame for her death and order him to pay Barkley’s family $30 million, which would put him out of business.
It was a sad end to a life in the public eye since he was a child. As a teenager, he played the lead role in the comedy “Our Gang” and the classic “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was known for playing Perry Smith, a real-life murderer, in the Truman Capote movie In Cold Blood.
From 1975 to 1978, the TV police show Baretta was the highlight of his career. He dresses up and plays a detective with a parrot on his shoulder. He is known for playing tough guys with soft hearts, and the phrase “don’t commit a crime if you can’t find the time” is often used to describe him. Blake won an Emmy in 1975 for playing Tony Baretta, even though he had a fight with the show’s fiery star behind the scenes. He’s known as one of Hollywood’s best actors, but he’s also one of the most difficult to work with.
Blake won another Emmy in 1993 for playing a soft-spoken priest who kills his wife and three children in Judgment Day: The John Lister Story. His own life was just as dramatic as any character he had played, and he later said that he had been addicted to alcohol and drugs when he was young.
Michael James Gubitosi was born in Nutley, New Jersey, on September 18, 1933. His father, an Italian immigrant, and his mother, an Italian-American, wanted their three children to do well in show business. Blake was only 2 years old when he and his siblings appeared on the family show Three Little Hillbillies. When Mickey Gubitosi’s parents moved the family to Los Angeles and his mother got the kids jobs as extras, he was picked out of the crowd to be the star of the comedy “Our Gang” (Our Gang). During the five years he was on the show, he changed his name to Bobby Blake.
He went on to work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. In 1946, he played a young John Garfield in a comedy, and in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, he was the boy who sold Humphrey Bogart an important lottery ticket. As an adult, he got important parts in movies. “In Cold Blood,” which came out in 1967, was the song that made the most noise. “Tell ’em Willie Boy Is Here” and “Blue Electra Glide” were the next movies to come out.
Blake got married to actress Sandra Kerr in 1961, and the couple had two kids, Noah and Delina. In 1983, they split up. In 1999, he met Bakley for the last time at a jazz club, where he had gone to get away from being alone. “Here I am, 67 or 68. My life has come to a halt. “My career has come to a standstill,” he told the AP. “I spent a lot of time alone.”
He says he has no reason not to like Barkley. “She told me to get out of the stands and back on the field,” he says. I’m fighting for something.” When Buckley had a girl, she named the baby after Marlon’s son, Christian Brando. But DNA tests showed that Blake was the one.