Actor Robert Blake died Thursday of heart disease at the age of 89, The New York Times reports.
Born Michael Gubitosi in 1933, Blake became a child star and regular in the Our Gang short films by the age of 5.
In 1975, Blake took over for actor Tony Musante in the hit show Baretta, in which he played what would become his most popular role to date. He later won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for his performance as Tony Baretta, a disguise-wearing detective who carried a cockatoo on his shoulder.
After Baretta, he created the short-lived show Hell Town on NBC. His last screen appearance ever was in the 1997 David Lynch film Lost Highway.
Blake’s long career in Hollywood was eclipsed both by his difficult reputation in the industry and the death of his wife, actress Bonny Lee Bakley. They married in 2000 after she became pregnant with their daughter, Rose. But in 2001, Bakley was found dead from a gunshot wound in Blake’s car outside of a restaurant they had just finished dining in.
The tense trial revealed the strain of their marriage, and became a media circus comparable to O.J. Simpson’s trial. Blake was charged with murder with special circumstances (a capital offense punishable by the death penalty) and soliciting two stuntmen to commit the murder. Blake spent 11 months in jail until he was granted bail at $1.5 million, which he posted.
In 2005, two stuntmen testified in court that Blake hired them to carry out the crime. But jurors found them uncredible and decided that their testimony, combined with the lack of forensic evidence, did not prove that Blake was guilty of the crime. He was acquitted of the murder in 2005.
Later that same year, a civil suit filed against Blake on behalf of Bakley’s four children found the actor liable for her death. He was ordered to pay $30 million in damages, though it was later settled for an undisclosed amount.
Blake is survived by his three children.
