Robert Blake has died at the age of 89 after a battle with heart disease, according to his family.
Blake worked in Hollywood for over 60 years, starring in such classics as Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart and In Cold Blood with John Forsythe. He was also the star of a number of studio westerns under the stage name Bobby Blake.
On television, he was also known as New York City undercover detective Tony Baretta in Baretta, which aired on ABC for four seasons in the mid-1970s.
But his career was derailed in the early 2000s when he was charged with the murder of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley, along with murder, conspiracy and special circumstances of lying in wait.
However, a jury found him not guilty of asking a former stuntman he worked with for Baretta to kill Bakley, and her murder was never solved.
Robert Blake has died at the age of 89 after suffering from heart disease. He is pictured here driving around Los Angeles in 2020
Blake worked in Hollywood for over 60 years, starring in classic films and television
Blake started in Hollywood at a young age, appearing in Our Gang comedies at the age of 5, and later in Rin Tin Tin with Robert Woods.
As an adult, he took on roles in a number of classic movies before landing his standout role as murderer Perry Smith in the 1967 film adaptation of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
The following year, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Baretta.
His fans regularly saw him on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he was a recurring guest who appeared in a number of skits along with his guest friend.
He is also remembered for his Eveready battery commercial where he would dare anyone to knock one off his shoulder.
Blake’s last role came in the 1977 David Lynch film Lost Highway.
Just a few years later, his career was derailed when he was charged with the 2001 murder of 44-year-old Bakley.
The two were enjoying dinner at a restaurant in Studio City, after which Bakley got into her vehicle, where she was shot in the head on May 4.
Blake claimed he escorted his wife to the car, but went back to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he had accidentally left behind.
He said he found his wife injured in the car when he got back.
Blake is depicted as a child in Rin Tin Tin in 1947 with Donald Woods
Blake can be seen here as a child in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart
Blake is pictured during the Pirates screening on July 17, 1986
He was known on television as undercover New York police officer Baretta
In 2002, Blake stood trial for the murder of his wife Bonny Lee Bakley. He was ultimately found not guilty
It was revealed at trial that Bonny Lee Bakley (pictured) had several alibis and 10 previous husbands
Initially, the Los Angeles Police Department did not consider Blake a suspect and found the murder weapon in a nearby dumpster.
But a year later he was arrested and charged with the shooting.
He spent 11 months in jail before bail was even set, spending millions on lawyers and private investigators.
During a highly publicized three-month trial, details of their unhappy marriage emerged, including that Bakley had at least a dozen different aliases and 10 former husbands.
Prosecutors argued that she trapped Blake in a loveless marriage by becoming pregnant with his child, but the jury of seven men and five women did not believe the stuntman’s testimony, citing his history of drug use.
Blake would later write his memoir The Life of a Rascal.
In recent years he has been living quietly in his home in Los Angles, where he enjoys listening to jazz music, playing the guitar, reading poetry and watching classic films. deadline reports.
Blake can be seen here in an interview from the Los Angeles County Jail for ABC News
Pictured in 2004, Blake returns to court as he stands trial for his wife’s murder
The actor can be seen here crying with his head on the table as he was found not guilty
In recent years he has been living quietly in his home in Los Angles, where he enjoys listening to jazz music, playing the guitar, reading poetry and watching classic films.
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