Robert Blake, a mainstay in Hollywood for many years who later grew to become a supply of even wider fascination when he was tried for the homicide of his second spouse, has died. In line with the Related Press “a assertion launched on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, stated Blake died from coronary heart illness, surrounded by household at dwelling in Los Angeles.” Blake was 89 years previous.
Born Michael James Gubitosi in 1933, Blake was a baby actor who appeared in a number of Little Rascals shorts, and had a task within the traditional Humphrey Bogart drama The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. After serving within the navy, Blake returned to appearing; as an grownup, his onscreen breakthrough got here in 1967’s In Chilly Blood, the movie adaptation of the traditional Truman Capote guide. Blake performed assassin Perry Smith:
Within the Seventies, Blake grew to become a TV star because the title character on the cop present Baretta, which ran for 4 profitable seasons on ABC. Blake gained an Emmy for his work on the sequence.
Blake’s profession slowed significantly within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, though he did make an especially memorable look — in what can be his ultimate movie function — as “The Thriller Man” of David Lynch’s Misplaced Freeway.
In later years, although, Blake was much more well-known as a result of in 2002 he was charged with the homicide of his spouse, Bonny Lee Bakley. The incident occurred in Might of 2001; Bakley was shot within the head exterior a restaurant. Blake stated he was contained in the restaurant on the time of the killing, coincidentally reclaiming a gun that he had by chance left inside — a gun which police later examined and decided was not the weapon used within the homicide. Blake was in the end acquitted of the costs in 2005, and at all times insisted upon his innocence, however in a civil swimsuit later that very same yr he was discovered accountable for Bakley’s demise and ordered him to pay $30 million to Bakley’s household. (Because of this, Blake was pressured to file for chapter.)
In different phrases, Blake leaves behind a really difficult legacy — together with some superb films. (In case you’ve by no means seen the motion drama Electra Glide in Blue or the buddy cop film Busting with Blake starring reverse Elliott Gould, each are undoubtedly value testing.)
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