Robert Blake, a controversial actor best known for his roles in the tv series “Baretta” and the film “In Cold Blood,” is dead at 89.
The actor’s son, Noah Blake, confirmed his death Thursday to The Post. Blake’s family said he died of heart disease at home in LA.
Born Michael Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, Blake’s six-decade Hollywood profession was marred by accusations he killed his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.
On May 4, 2001, the 44-year-old Bakley was shot and killed while sitting in Blake’s automotive outside of a Studio City restaurant where the couple had just dined.
Blake, who maintained his innocence, was acquitted of Bakley’s murder in 2005.
After the trial, Blake told the Associated Press he hoped for a profession resurgence.
“I’d like to provide my best performance,” he said in 2006. “I’d like to go away a legacy for [daughter] Rosie about who I’m. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d wish to go to bed each night eager to get up each morning and create some magic.”
Blake rose to fame as a toddler actor, appearing within the “Our Gang” short film series.
His most notable role was within the 1967 adaptation of Truman Capote’s true-crime book “In Cold Blood.”
He also starred in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948), “Electra Glide in Blue” (1973) and “Lost Highway” (1997), his final film.
Blake scored a Primetime Emmy Award in 1975 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for “Baretta,” during which he played the titular character, Det. Tony Baretta, for 4 seasons.
His hard-nosed cop character — whose faithful companion was a talkative pet cockatoo Fred — had several oft-repeated catchphrases, including “That’s the name of that tune,” “You may take that to the bank” and “Don’t do the crime if you happen to can’t do the time.”
Blake also received three other Emmy nominations.
Out of his three nominations for a Golden Globe, he only received one in 1976 for Best Actor in a Television Series (Drama), again for his rugged role in “Baretta.”
But his Hollywood journey was rocked with controversy when the actor was arrested in connection to Bakley’s murder.
Prosecutors claimed he tried to rent hitmen to kill Bakley, whom he married in 2000 because she had change into pregnant along with his baby. The jury was unconvinced.
Eight months after his acquittal, in November 2005, a civil jury found Blake accountable for Bakley’s death and ordered him to pay her family $30 million — which left him bankrupt.
“If you wish to know undergo $10 million in five years, ask me how,” he told the media after the decision, in accordance with The Hollywood Reporter. “I used to be a wealthy man. I’m broke now.”
His acting profession, nevertheless, remained stagnant, along with his final performance within the 1997 film “Lost Highway,” co-starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette, in accordance with his IMDb page.
In 2019, Rose Lenore, the daughter of Blake and Bakley, told People that she was following in her actor father’s footsteps, saying she loved “attending to be another person” when performing.
Rose described her childhood as “complicated” – she wasn’t even a 12 months old when her mother died.
Until the time of the People interview, she hadn’t seen Blake since she was a small child, raised by her half-sister Delinah.
“When Rosie was 2 weeks old, I held her in my hands, and I asked God to care for her ’cause I’m an old man and tomorrow is guaranteed to no one,” Blake told CBS News in 2003. “I said, ‘God, if you happen to please care for Rosie, I won’t ever, ever ask you anything again for the remaining of my life.’”
In 2019, Blake suggested his own upbringing was chaotic, telling “20/20” that his father was a “lunatic” and that Blake’s success brought out animosity in him.
“The more success I got, the more he desired to kill me,” he claimed, in accordance with USA Today.
“I used to be all the time at the least 50% self-destructive, but after I wasn’t working, I couldn’t stand the best way I felt,” he also told this system of his own inner issues.
“Bipolar? I used to be tri-polar. I used to be quad-polar. Who the hell knows what sort of polar I used to be? I had 35 different feelings in five minutes. I used to be nuts after I was away from the camera.”
Blake is survived by his three children: Rose, Delinah and Noah.
