Robert Blake (born Michael James Gubitosi; September 18, 1933 – March 9, 2023), billed early in his career as Mickey Gubitosi and Bobby Blake, was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the 1967 film In Cold Blood, playing the title role in the late 1970s television series Baretta, and playing the Mystery Man in the 1997 film Lost Highway.[1]
Blake began his career in the 1930s performing as a child alongside his family in song and as a dancer but became famous as a child actor, with his lead role in the final years of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-era of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short film series from 1939 to 1944. He also appeared as a child actor in 22 entries of the Red Ryder film franchise. In the Red Ryder series and in many of his adult roles, the Italian-American actor was often cast as an American Indian or Latino character. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Blake returned to acting in both television and movie roles. Blake continued acting until 1997's Lost Highway. Owing to Blake's becoming one of the first child actors to successfully transition to mature roles as an adult, author Michael Newton called his career "one of the longest in Hollywood history".[2]
Blake was arrested in 2002 for the 2001 murder of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Blake was acquitted of the murder in criminal court in 2005,[3][4] though he was found liable in a civil court for her wrongful death.[5] Blake died in 2023.
Early life
Blake was born Michael James Gubitosi in Nutley, New Jersey, on September 18, 1933.[6] His parents were Giacomo (James) Gubitosi (1906–1956) and his wife, Elizabeth Cafone (1910–1991).[7] In 1930, James worked as a die setter for a can manufacturer. Eventually, Blake's parents began a song-and-dance act.[2] In 1936, their three children began performing, billed as "The Three Little Hillbillies."[2] They moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1938, where the children began working as movie extras.[7]
Blake had an unhappy childhood in which he was abused by his alcoholic father. When he entered public school at age 10, he was bullied and had fights with other students, which led to his expulsion. Blake later stated that he was physically and sexually abused by both of his parents while growing up and was frequently locked in a closet and forced to eat off the floor as punishment.[2] At age 14, he ran away from home, leading to several more difficult years.[8] His father died by suicide in 1956.[2] He refused to attend his father's funeral.[9]
Child actor
Blake in 1944
Blake as "Little Beaver" in a Red Ryder film serial chapter, ca. 1946
Then known as Mickey Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career as Toto in the MGM movie Bridal Suite (1939), starring Annabella and Robert Young. Blake then began appearing in MGM's Our Gangshort subjects (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) under his real name, replacing Eugene "Porky" Lee. He appeared in 40 of the shorts between 1939 and 1944, eventually becoming the series' final lead character. Blake's parents also made appearances in the series as extras. In Our Gang, Blake's character, Mickey, was often called upon to cry, for which he was criticized for being unconvincing. He was also criticized for being obnoxious and whiny.[10]
In 1942, he acquired the stage name Bobby Blake and scored his first starring role in a feature film, playing the title role in the MGM feature Mokey. Donna Reed also starred as Mokey's mother, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, who co-starred in Our Gang alongside Blake, played Mokey's friend Brother Cumby.[11] After the changing of his stage name, Blake's character in Our Gang was renamed "Mickey Blake." Blake also appeared as "Tooky" Stedman in the 1942 film Andy Hardy's Double Life.
In 1944, Blake began playing a Native American boy, "Little Beaver," in the Red RyderWestern series at the studios of Republic Pictures (now CBS Radford Studios), appearing in twenty-three of the movies until 1947. He also had roles in one of Laurel and Hardy's later films The Big Noise (1944), and the Warner Bros. movies Humoresque (1946), playing John Garfield's character as a child, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), playing the Mexican boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a winning lottery ticket and gets a glass of water thrown in his face by Bogart in the process. In 1950, at age 17, Blake appeared as Mahmoud in The Black Rose and as Enrico, Naples Bus Boy (uncredited) in Black Hand.[13][14]
Career as an adult
In 1950, Blake was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Upon leaving at the age of 21, he found himself without any job prospects and fell into a deep depression. This led to a two-year addiction to heroin and cocaine. He also sold drugs.[15] Blake entered Jeff Corey's acting class and began working on improving his personal and professional life. He eventually became a seasoned Hollywood actor, playing notable dramatic roles in movies and on television. In 1956, he was billed as Robert Blake for the first time.[16]
Blake performed in numerous motion pictures as an adult, including the starring role in The Purple Gang (1960), a gangster movie, and featured roles in Pork Chop Hill (1959) and, as one of four U.S. soldiers participating in a gang rape in occupied Germany, in Town Without Pity (1961). He appeared in the John F. Kennedy war biopic PT 109 as Charles "Bucky" Harris (1963). He was also in Ensign Pulver (1964), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and other films. Blake garnered further exposure as a member of the ensemble cast of the 1963 acclaimed but short-lived The Richard Boone Show, appearing in fifteen of the NBC series' 25 episodes.
Boone introduced Blake to entertainment attorney Louis L. Goldman, whom Blake credited with putting him on a successful career path:
"Lou was Cus D'Amato. He took me under his wing. He said, ‘Robert, you have to listen to me. Otherwise you’re never going to make it.' And somehow he had the emotional and the psychological wherewithal to get me to respect and love him. And he kept me out of the courtrooms. Many’s the time he went back in the judge's chambers and drug me back there and solved the problem that was going to turn into a nightmare. [He'd] [c]ome on the set and handle things; once [he went] to Lew Wasserman’s office and said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle it, I’ll fix it'... For some reason or other, I listened to him. When I was with him I was like a little boy. And I would apologize. I’d say ‘God, Lou, I’m sorry.’ He had a way of getting to your heart so that the junkyard dog was not there with him. And he took care of all of us in that way. I was very lucky."[17]
In 1967, Blake experienced a career breakout due to his work in the film In Cold Blood.[18][19] Blake played real-life murderer Perry Smith, whom he physically resembled. Richard Brooks received two Oscar nominations for the film: one for his direction, and one for his adaptation of Truman Capote's book.[20] With In Cold Blood, Blake was the first actor to utter the expletive "bullshit" in a mainstream American motion picture.[21]
As Baretta with Fred, 1976
Blake played a Native American fugitive in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), starred in a TV movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men (1981), and played a motorcycle highway patrolman in iconoclastic Electra Glide in Blue (1973). He played a small-town stock car driver with ambitions to join the NASCAR circuit in Corky, which MGM produced in 1972. The film featured real NASCAR drivers, including Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough as themselves.
Blake may be best known for his Emmy Award–winning role of Tony Baretta in the popular television series Baretta[22] (1975 to 1978), playing a street-wise, plain clothes police detective. The show's trademarks included Baretta's pet cockatoo "Fred" and his signature phrases—notably "That's the name of that tune", and "You can take that to the bank."
After Baretta ended, NBC offered to produce several pilot episodes of a proposed series titled Joe Dancer, in which Blake would play the role of a hard-boiled private detective.[23] In addition to starring, Blake also was credited as the executive producer and creator.[23] Three television films aired on NBC in 1981 and 1983, but a television series of "Joe Dancer" never materialized.[23]
Blake had starring roles in a couple of films for Paramount Pictures, Coast to Coast (1980) and Second-Hand Hearts (1981). He continued to act through the 1980s and 1990s, mostly in television, in such roles as Jimmy Hoffa in the miniseries Blood Feud (1983) and as John List in the murder drama Judgment Day: The John List Story (1993), which earned him a third Emmy nomination. Blake starred in the 1985 television series Hell Town, playing a priest working in a tough neighborhood, and wrote the screenplay for the pilot as Lyman P. Docker.[24] He also had character parts in the theatrical movies Money Train (1995) and played the Mystery Man in David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997), which turned out to be his last film role.
Marriages and children
Blake and actress Sondra Kerr were married in 1961, and divorced in 1983. It was his first marriage, from which came two children: actor Noah Blake (born 1965) and Delinah Blake (born 1966).[25]
In 1999, eight years after his attorney Louis L. Goldman's death, Blake met Bonny Lee Bakley, formerly of Wharton, New Jersey, who had already been married nine times and reportedly had a history of exploiting older men, especially celebrities, for money.[26] She was dating Christian Brando, the son of Marlon Brando, during her relationship with Blake. Bakley became pregnant and told both Brando and Blake that her baby was theirs. Initially, Bakley named the baby "Christian Shannon Brando" and stated that Brando was the father.[27] Bakley wrote letters describing her dubious motives to Blake.[28] Blake insisted that she take a DNA test to prove the paternity.[27] Blake became Bakley's tenth husband on November 19, 2000, after DNA tests proved that Blake was the biological father of Bakley's youngest child.[29] After paternity was established, the child's name was legally changed to Rose Lenore Sophia Blake; after the murder, the child was designated to be raised by Blake's daughter Delinah.[30][31] Blake remained married to Bakley until she was murdered on May 4, 2001.
In a March 2016 interview at age 82, Blake indicated he had a new woman in his life, who remained unnamed.[32] In 2017, Blake applied for a marriage license for his fiancée, Pamela Hudak, an event planner whom he had known for decades, and who had testified on his behalf at his trial.[33] On December 7, 2018, it was announced that Blake had filed for divorce.[34]
Murder of Bonny Lee Bakley
On May 4, 2001, Blake took Bakley out for dinner at Vitello's Italian Restaurant in Studio City, California. Bakley was fatally shot in the head while sitting in Blake's vehicle, which was parked on a side street around the corner from the restaurant. Blake claimed that he had returned to the restaurant to collect a pistol which he had left inside and said that he had not been present when the shooting took place. The pistol Blake left in the restaurant was found and determined by police not to be the murder weapon.[35]
Arrest
Blake's 2002 mug shot
On April 18, 2002, Blake was arrested and charged with Bakley's murder. His longtime bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy in connection with the murder. A key event that gave the Los Angeles Police Department the confidence to arrest Blake came when a retired stuntman, Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton, agreed to testify against him.[36] Hambleton alleged that Blake tried to hire him to kill Bakley. Another retired stuntman and an associate of Hambleton's, Gary McLarty, also came forward with a similar story.[37] According to author Miles Corwin, Hambleton had agreed to testify against Blake only after being told that he would be subject to a grand jurysubpoena and a misdemeanor charge.[38][39]
On April 22, 2002, Blake was charged with one count of murder with special circumstances, an offense which carried a possible death penalty. He was also charged with two counts of solicitation of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Blake entered a plea of not guilty.[40] On March 13, 2003, after almost a year in jail, Blake was granted bail, which was set at $1.5 million. He was then placed under house arrest while awaiting trial. On October 31, in a major reversal for the prosecution, the judge dismissed the conspiracy charges against Blake and Caldwell during a pre-trial hearing.[41] The junior prosecutor who handled the case, Shellie Samuels, was interviewed by CBS reporter Peter Van Sant for the CBS program 48 Hours Investigates. During the interview, broadcast in November 2003, she admitted that the prosecutors had no forensic evidence implicating Blake in the murder and that they could not tie him to the murder weapon.[41]
Trial and acquittal
Blake's criminal trial for murder began on December 20, 2004, with opening statements by the prosecution and opening statements by the defense the following day.[41] The prosecution contended that Blake intentionally murdered Bakley to free himself from a loveless marriage, while the defense claimed that Blake was an innocent victim of circumstantial and fabricated evidence. McLarty and Hambleton each testified that Blake had asked them to murder Bakley. On cross-examination, the defense brought up McLarty's mental health problems and Hambleton's criminal history. The lack of gunshot residue on Blake's hands was a key part of the defense's case that Blake was not the shooter. Blake chose not to testify.[42]
On March 16, 2005, Blake was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of one of the two counts of solicitation of murder. The other count, for solicitation to commit murder, was dropped after it was revealed that the jury was deadlocked 11–1 in favor of an acquittal. Los Angeles County District AttorneyStephen Cooley, commenting on this ruling, called Blake "a miserable human being" and the jurors "incredibly stupid" to fall for the defense's claims.[43][44] Public opinion regarding the verdict was mixed, with some feeling that Blake was guilty, though many felt that there was not enough evidence to convict him.[45] On the night of his acquittal several fans celebrated at Blake's favorite haunt – and the scene of the crime – Vitello's.[46]
Civil case
Bakley's three children filed a civil suit against Blake, asserting that he was responsible for their mother's death. During the trial, the girlfriend of Blake's co-defendant Earle Caldwell said she believed Blake and Caldwell were involved in the crime.[47]
On November 18, 2005, a jury found Blake liable for the wrongful death of his wife and ordered him to pay $30 million.[48] On February 3, 2006, Blake filed for bankruptcy.
Blake's attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, appealed the court's decision on February 28, 2007.[49] On April 26, 2008, an appeals court upheld the civil case verdict, but cut Blake's penalty assessment to $15 million.[50]
Aftermath
Blake maintained a low profile after his acquittal and filing for bankruptcy, with debts of $3 million for unpaid legal fees as well as state and federal taxes.[51] On April 9, 2010, the state of California filed a tax lien against Blake for $1,110,878 in unpaid back taxes.[52]
On July 16, 2012, Blake was interviewed on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. When asked about the night of Bakley's murder, Blake became defensive and angry, stating he resented Morgan's questioning and felt he was being interrogated. Morgan responded he was only asking questions that he felt people were eager to have answered.[53]
In January 2019, Blake was interviewed by 20/20. Initially, he seemed to decline the interview and instead delegated it to a friend, but then began to participate, discussing the murder and the behavior of the police officers who dealt with him, the culture of Hollywood and its reaction to the event, and his early life and difficulties with his parents.[54][55][56]
In September 2019, Blake started a YouTube channel titled "Robert Blake: I ain't dead yet, so stay tuned," on which he discussed his life and career.[57]
Later in October the same year, Blake's daughter, Rose Lenore, opened up about her childhood and how the trial affected her. She discussed reuniting with her father, visiting her mother's grave and her own desire to get into acting. Regarding knowing the truth about her mother's murder and whether Blake did it she declined to know the details but is open to knowing the truth "If it's ever an option".[58]
In 2021, Blake opened up a website, "Robert Blake's Pushcart", where scripts, memorabilia, and books including his autobiography Tales of a Rascal are available to read and in the case of the latter can be ordered.[59]
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel made a comment at the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, 2023, after Blake's death. On the topic of whether or not Blake should be included in the annual "In Memoriam" montage, Kimmel stated, "Everybody please get out your phones, even at home, it's time to vote. If you think Robert Blake should be part of the In Memoriam montage, text 'GIMME-A-Blake' to the number on your screen, or to any number."[64] Blake was not mentioned during the televised "In Memoriam" portion of the ceremony.[65] Blake's son Noah criticized the omission of his father's name and career.[66] Blake was also left out of the "In Memoriam" montage at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony.[67] Blake was featured in the 2023 'TCM Remembers' montage, an annual tribute to the film industry's dearly departed by Turner Classic Movies.[68]
^Maltin, Leonard; Richard W. Bann (1992) [1977]. The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang (Rev. ed.). Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. ISBN0-517-58325-9.
^"Mokey". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
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