Robert Blake passes away at 89 from heart disease. Welcome access Hollywood. From Universal Studios Hollywood, I’m Mario Lopez. The hugely controversial actor was a Hollywood icon over his 60 year career, from A Little Rascals child star to incold Blood and then Barretta. But he went from famous to infamous after being acquitted in 2005 of his wife’s murder.
The trial was so sensational, the verdict was broadcast all over the world. Robert Blake made that music and line famous, playing the toughest nails TV detective in the 1975 hit Barretta, earning him his first Emmy. He’s not guilty of the crime of first degree murder of Bonnie Lee Blake. But Robert Blake legacy was tarnished when he starred in a real life crime drama in 2001.
Arrested and charged for the shooting death of his second wife, Bonnie Lee Bakeley, who was killed in Blake’s car outside an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles after they had dined together. Blake’s defense was that he couldn’t have shot his wife because he returned to the restaurant to get a handgun he had left in a booth. Police later determined the gun was not used in the killing.
At the post verdict press conference, Robert Blake had choice words for those who talked ill of him they’re all liars, and about half of them are Commodore Scum. A few months after the criminal verdict, bonnie Lee’s family was awarded $30 million in a wrongful death suit that left Blake bankrupt. A TV child star at the age of five as a Little Rascal on her R gang.
Robert Blake became a movie star in the 67 Oscar nominated dramatic film In Cold Blood. And after becoming a small screen sensation in Barretta, blake became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Blake earned a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most talented actors, but also one of its most difficult. He alluded to being blacklisted for a while in this 1985 Today Show interview.
When I got through with Barretta, I was a wretch, and I went out and I blew a couple of movies and I blew a lot of other stuff, and I didn’t work for a couple of years. Blake was admittedly self destructive, admitting to being addicted to alcohol and drugs in many ways, like the flawed characters he played.
In 2019, Robert Blake reunited with his daughter, Rose, who wasn’t even a year old when her mother, Bonnie was murdered. At the time, Rose said they hadn’t talked about the night her mother died. Six months before Bonnie’s murder, blake gave us this now ironic take on his life. Ain’t nobody shooting at me, and I’m still here. Life’s been awful god good to me.
The number of times I should have been planted. I’m doing all right. Totally remember when this all went down. Following the trial, Robert Blake faded from the public eye. He was surrounded by family at the time of his death.
Robert Blake
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