Robert Blake, ‘Lost Highway’ and ‘In Cold Blood’ actor accused of killing his wife, dies

As reported by the Associated Press, ‘Lost Highway’ and ‘In Cold Blood’ actor Robert Blake, He died at the age of 89 of heart disease. Born Michael James Vincenzo Gubitosi in New Jersey to an Italian father and an Italian-American mother, Blake was a child actor, beginning small roles at age 6 in Westerns and short films of the 1930s and 1940s, where he sometimes did not was credited. He has appeared, for example, in “Te quiero otra vez”, “El gran estruendo” or “El Tesore de Sierra Madre”. After completing his military service and attending Jeff Corey’s drama school, he returned to acting as the lead, in ‘The Purple Gang’ and later ‘In Cold Blood’, an adaptation of the Truman Capote play directed by Richard Brooks.

In the 70s he becomes a television star with the series ‘Baretta’, for which he wins an Emmy, and we have also seen him on the big screen in titles such as ‘Valley of the Fugitive’, ‘Corky’ or ‘The Skin on the Asphalt ‘. In the two decades since her career slowed down, she won another Emmy for her role in “Blood Feud,” she appeared in “Of Mice and Men” and “Money Train Robbery,” and in 1997 He played his last role – the mysterious man from “Lost Highway”.

The murder of Bonny Lee Bakley

Blake met his would-be second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, in 1999; for Bakley it was her tenth marriage. She had a reputation for exploiting the elderly for money and when she became pregnant with her (her with her fourth child) she told both Blake and Christian Brando, son of Marlon Brando, who were the parents of the child. After a DNA test pinpointed Blake as the real parent, they married in November 2000, though she moved in at Blake’s Studio City guest house. On May 4, 2001, Bakley was shot in the head while inside her car after having dinner with her husband at a restaurant called Vitello. Blake claimed that he returned to the plant because he forgot his gun inside and that the crime was committed in that space of time.

The actor was arrested on April 18, 2002 and charged with the murder, his bodyguard was also arrested as an accomplice. Voice actor Ronald “Duffy” Hambleton accused Blake of trying to hire him to commit the crime. His bail, after a year in pretrial detention, was $1.5 million his case inspired an episode of ‘Law and Order’. The trial was held in March 2005 and Blake was found “not guilty” and acquitted for lack of evidence. Later, Bakley’s four children filed a civil lawsuit against Blake, and this time the jury ordered him to pay his ex-wife’s family $30 million, but he filed for bankruptcy and went to work on a ranch. His daughter with Bonnie Lee Bakley, Rose Lenore Sophia Blake, was adopted by his eldest son Noah Blake.