Actor Robert Blake, who starred in the 1970s cop show baretta and later acquitted of murdering his wife in a high-profile murder trial, he died at the age of 89. He died of heart disease on Thursday, his niece told our sister site Deadline.
Blake began his Hollywood career as a child star, playing Mickey in MGM’s our gang Shorts, later known as Little Rascals. Young Blake also appeared in the Laurel and Hardy film and shared a scene with Humphrey Bogart in the 1948 classic film Treasure of the Sierra Madre,
As an adult, Blake had several major film and TV credits before his breakout role as assassin Perry Smith in the 1967 film version of Truman Capote. in cold blood, He played undercover police detective Tony Baretta on the ABC show barettaKnown for its pet cockatoo Fred. baretta ran for four seasons, in which Blake won an Emmy in 1975 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
In 2001, Blake’s wife Bonnie Lee Buckley was found dead in Blake’s car outside an L.A. restaurant. A year later, Blake was arrested and charged with Bakley’s murder, leading to a highly publicized trial. Blake was eventually found not guilty of murder and solicitation of murder. An additional charge of solicitation to commit murder was dropped when the jury was deadlocked. Blake is later found liable for Bakley’s wrongful death in a civil suit brought by his children.