Robert Blake, noted actor and Emmy-winner who starred in crime series “Baretta,” has died, according to his daughter, Delinah Blake. He was 89.
Delinah Blake told CNN in an email that her father died “peacefully” on Thursday “surrounded by family.”
Robert Blake died in Los Angeles from heart disease, according to his niece Noreen Austin, who released an obituary notice via a representative.
Over the course of more than 60 years working as a professional actor, Robert Blake amassed a number of memorable credits, including 1967’s “In Cold Blood” and David Lynch’s 1997 film “Lost Highway,” the actor’s final screen credit.
In 2001, Robert Blake’s second wife Bonny Lee Bakley was found murdered in the San Fernando Valley. In 2005, the actor was acquitted of murder charges relating to the case. He later lost a civil suit brought forth by Bakley’s children.
A vast career
Robert Blake, born in Nutley, New Jersey on September 18, 1933, went by his birth name of Michael Gubitosi until 1942. He got his start in Hollywood as a child actor in the “Our Gang” movie shorts in 1939 as Mickey, one of the Little Rascals, continuing under the name of “Bobby Blake” in various “Our Gang” shorts until the early ’40s.
He starred in his first film in 1942 as Daniel ‘Mokey’ Delano in “Mokey,” about a troubled young boy navigating life at home with his father and stepmother. In 1948, he appeared in “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” which costarred the legendary Humphrey Bogart.
In 1967, Robert Blake starred as Perry in the film “In Cold Blood,” based on Truman Capote’s 1965 novel of the same name, about the murder of a family in Holcomb, Kansas.
Robert Blake later went on to star in the 1970s television crime series “Baretta.” He won an Emmy Award for his role on the show, in which he played the title character, a New York City undercover detective. The series aired for four seasons on ABC from 1975-1978.
