Actor Robert Blake dies at 89
Actor Robert Blake, a former child star who went on to win an Emmy for the 1970s television show Baretta and was later acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.
Blake's niece, Noreen Austin, said in a statement her uncle died from heart disease.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
As an adult, he starred in 1967's In Cold Blood and earned an Emmy in 1975 for playing Tony Baretta, a detective with a pet cockatoo, in the television show Baretta. He received another Emmy in 1993 for his portrayal of the title character in Judgment Day: The John List Story. List killed his wife and three children before going on the run and assuming a new identity.
Blake met his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, at a jazz club in 1999. She gave birth to a daughter in 2000, Rosie, and named Marlon Brando's son, Christian, as the father. DNA tests showed Blake was the biological father, and he married Bakley later that year. On May 4, 2001, Bakley was shot and killed while sitting in Blake's car in Studio City, California. They had just eaten dinner, and Blake told police he had returned to the restaurant to retrieve his gun, which he had accidentally left behind, and then found Bakley slumped over in the passenger seat.
Blake was arrested a year later, with prosecutors accusing him of hiring a hitman to kill Bakley so he could have sole custody of Rosie. He denied the allegations, and was acquitted; later, a civil jury found him liable for Bakley's death, and he was ordered to pay her family $30 million.
He told The Associated Press in 2006 that his goal was to have a second act in Hollywood, and "give my best performance. I'd like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am."
-
Why is London’s property market slumping?Today's Big Question Some sellers have reported losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds
-
Quiz of The Week: 10 – 16 JanuaryQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
Woman in Mind: a ‘triumphant’ revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s dark comedyThe Week Recommends Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan dazzle in ‘bitterly funny farce’
-
Brigitte Bardot: the bombshell who embodied the new FranceFeature The actress retired from cinema at 39, and later become known for animal rights activism and anti-Muslim bigotry
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Frank Gehry: the architect who made buildings flow like waterFeature The revered building master died at the age of 96
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
R&B singer D’AngeloFeature A reclusive visionary who transformed the genre
-
Kiss guitarist Ace FrehleyFeature The rocker who shot fireworks from his guitar
