LISTEN LIVE
WATCH LIVE
WTMJ
Friday, May 16, 2025
81 °f
Milwaukee
52.9 ° Sat
49 ° Sun
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Breaking News
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Environment
    • Featured Stories
    • Government and Politics
    • Health
    • National
    • News Features
    • Wisconsin
    Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

    Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

    Power outages close Cedar Hills Elementary in Oak Creek, delay Milwaukee High School of the Arts

    Tornado Warning for Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, Severe Thunderstorm Warning in Milwaukee

    Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for parts of Fond du Lac and Dodge Counties

    Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Waukesha, Dodge counties

    UPDATE: Active shooter situation at Zeidler Municipal Building a false alarm

    Tornado Watch for all of southeast Wisconsin through 10 p.m.

  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Driver’s Ed with Debbie
  • Sports
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
    • NCAA
  • On-Air
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
      • Everyday Hero
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Truth: Unfiltered
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
  • Podcasts

    Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    Brewers All Access Podcast

    WTMJ Conversations Podcast

    Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey

    Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast

    Bucks Talk: The Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    The Upswing

    What’s On Tap Podcast

    Scaffidiology Podcast

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • Point Taken Podcast
    • The Upswing Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • Daily Download
    • What’s On Tap Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • Decision Wisconsin Podcast
    • The Mid-West Farm Report Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Podcast
      • Experience Wisconsin Podcast
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
    • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Scaffidiology Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • WTMJ Extras Podcast
    • The Truth Unfiltered: The Podcast
    • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
  • Specialty Shows
    • Experience Wisconsin
    • Fix It Show
    • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
    • Home Improvement Showcase
    • Sunday Sip
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Fox World Travel Show
        • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Bios
    • Contests
    • History & Timeline
    • Advertise
    • Careers
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Breaking News
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Environment
    • Featured Stories
    • Government and Politics
    • Health
    • National
    • News Features
    • Wisconsin
    Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

    Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

    Power outages close Cedar Hills Elementary in Oak Creek, delay Milwaukee High School of the Arts

    Tornado Warning for Sheboygan and Fond du Lac, Severe Thunderstorm Warning in Milwaukee

    Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for parts of Fond du Lac and Dodge Counties

    Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Waukesha, Dodge counties

    UPDATE: Active shooter situation at Zeidler Municipal Building a false alarm

    Tornado Watch for all of southeast Wisconsin through 10 p.m.

  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Driver’s Ed with Debbie
  • Sports
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
    • NCAA
  • On-Air
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
      • Everyday Hero
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Truth: Unfiltered
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
  • Podcasts

    Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    You Need To Listen Podcast

    Brewers All Access Podcast

    WTMJ Conversations Podcast

    Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey

    Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast

    Bucks Talk: The Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    Bucks+ Audio Podcast

    The Upswing

    What’s On Tap Podcast

    Scaffidiology Podcast

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    The Truth: Unfiltered

    Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    Bucks Central Podcast

    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • Point Taken Podcast
    • The Upswing Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • Daily Download
    • What’s On Tap Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • Decision Wisconsin Podcast
    • The Mid-West Farm Report Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Podcast
      • Experience Wisconsin Podcast
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
    • Brewers All Access Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks in 6 Minutes
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Scaffidiology Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • WTMJ Extras Podcast
    • The Truth Unfiltered: The Podcast
    • Green & Gold Insiders Podcast
  • Specialty Shows
    • Experience Wisconsin
    • Fix It Show
    • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
    • Home Improvement Showcase
    • Sunday Sip
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Fox World Travel Show
        • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • About
    • Schedule
    • Bios
    • Contests
    • History & Timeline
    • Advertise
    • Careers
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife’s killing, dies at 89

by AP News
March 9, 2023, 8:57 pm - Updated on March 10, 2023, 6:34 am
in AP National, AP News, National
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP Special Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.

In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”

It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”

His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.

Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, “Judgment Day: the John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

Blake’s career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch’s “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films.”

He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, “The Three Little Hillbillies.”

When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the “Our Gang” comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.

He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in “Humoresque” in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in the Oscar-winning “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with “In Cold Blood.” Later there were films including, “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” and “Electra Glide in Blue.”

In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.

His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.

“Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in the AP interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”

He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”

When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.

Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.

“Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”

Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.

On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello’s. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.

Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.

In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.

“I’d like to give my best performance,” he said. “I’d like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic.”

___

Deutsch, the primary writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2014.

Previous Post

‘Cocaine cat’ escaped owner, will now live at Cincinnati Zoo

Next Post

Extra Points: End of the line

AP News

AP News

Next Post
Aaron Rodgers

Extra Points: End of the line

Connect with WTMJ on Social Media!

More Top Headlines

“You could tell something was wrong.” Dodge County man captures tornado forming on video

by Vince Vitrano
“You could tell something was wrong.” Dodge County man captures tornado forming on video

MAYVILLE - The National Weather Service is surveying damage in the Dodge County to confirm how many tornadoes touched down...

Read moreDetails

Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

by WTMJ News
Cleanup continues across Dodge County after strong storms

DODGE CO., Wis. -- The cleanup continues across the state after severe storms rolled through on May 15. National Weather...

Read moreDetails

Power outages close Cedar Hills Elementary in Oak Creek, delay Milwaukee High School of the Arts

by WTMJ News

MILWAUKEE COUNTY. Wis. -- Power outages from severe storms impact schools across Southeast Wisconsin, causing closures or delays. Cedar Hills...

Read moreDetails

Sign Up For WTMJ Insiders Below:

Loading

Weather Currents

Milwaukee, United States of America
Friday, May 16, 2025
Partly cloudy
81 ° f
32%
26.3mh
61 f 48 f
Sat
54 f 45 f
Sun
WTMJ

© 2025 Good Karma Broadcasting.

Navigate Site

  • Careers
  • Contact
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • LISTEN LIVE
  • WATCH LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Point Taken with Steve Scaffidi & Kristin Brey
      • Best of the Hawaiian Islands with Steve Scaffidi & Fox World Travel
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
    • The Upswing
    • Wisconsin’s Midday News
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • America’s Music Cities Holiday with John Mercure & Collette
      • Kingdoms of Southeast Asia with John Mercure & Collette
    • What’s On Tap
      • Germany, Austria, & Czech Republic – Beer & Brewery Tour with Sandy Maxx & Journeys Connect
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • The Mid-West Farm Report
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
  • Partners
    • Events
      • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
      • Summerfest
      • Wisconsin State Fair
    • Features
      • Every Day Health
      • Experience Wisconsin
      • Steve Scaffidi’s Salute to Service presented by WaterStone Bank
      • The Knowledge Brokers from R&R Insurance
      • Travel Wisconsin
    • Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • The Fox World Travel Show
      • Joshing Around Milwaukee Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
      • What’s the Difference? with Gina Della
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
  • Contests
  • Alexa

© 2025 Good Karma Broadcasting.