Robert Blake, Baretta star who was acquitted in wife's killing, dies at 89

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Robert Blake, the Baretta and In Cold Blood star whose fame turned to infamy when he was charged but acquitted in the killing of his wife, died of heart disease Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.

His niece Noreen Austin confirmed his death in a news release provided to EW.

Blake was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, N.J. After his parents moved their family to Los Angeles, a young Blake was cast in the Our Gang shorts, which he appeared in for five years. His acting career took off from there.

He had a number of smaller film and TV roles in the '40s, including a memorable one alongside Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Transitioning to more Western and action-themed parts in the '50s, Blake appeared on such series as The Roy Rogers Show, The Cisco Kid, Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, and Whirlybirds, and in films such as Apache War Smoke and Screaming Eagles.

'Baretta' star Robert Blake
'Baretta' star Robert Blake

Everett 'Baretta' star Robert Blake

He continued to work steadily in television throughout the '60s, but saw the most success with the 1970s cop show Baretta, in which he played a cockatoo-owning detective. Blake won an Emmy for the role in 1975, although behind the scenes he gained a reputation for being difficult to work with. In 1977 he was nominated again for the role, though he lost to The Rockford Files' James Garner. Blake was also later nominated for his work in the TV movies Judgment Day: the John List Story and Blood Feud.

On the film side, he had notable roles in Tell Them Willie Boy is Here, Electra Glide in Blue, and Lost Highway, the latter of which would come to be known as his last role. But his signature film performance, for which he received critical acclaim, was playing real-life murderer Perry Smith in the 1967 adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

Robert Blake in 2004
Robert Blake in 2004

Lee Celano/WireImage Robert Blake in 2004

Decades later, Blake would go from playing a murderer to being accused of murder. Nearly a year after the May 2001 shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, he was arrested and charged. The couple, who shared a daughter, Rosie, had been married for just six months when Bakley was found in their car outside the Studio City, Calif., restaurant they had just eaten at. Blake claimed his wife was shot while he was back inside the restaurant retrieving a gun he kept for protection.

Prosecutors argued that Blake tried to hire hitmen to kill his wife, in a plot to get sole custody of their daughter, and when that didn't work he did it himself. The jury acquitted Blake, though he was later found liable for her wrongful death in a civil suit.

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