Robert Blakethe actor whose life has been talked about as much off screen as on screen, has died.
According to a statement released to The Associated Press on behalf of Blake’s niece, Noreen AustinBlake died of heart disease Thursday at home surrounded by loved ones.
Blake was infamously accused of murdering his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakleyafter she was found dead outside Vitello’s restaurant in Los Angeles in 2001. Bakley had been shot in the head while sitting in Blake’s vehicle.
Blake told investigators he went back inside the restaurant to retrieve a gun when Bakley was fatally shot. It was later determined that his pistol was not the murder weapon.
Blake’s trial lasted about three months, but he was eventually found not guilty of murder and not guilty on one of two counts of solicitation of murder…the second charge of solicitation of murder was also eventually dropped.
Blake’s Hollywood career spanned more than 50 years, starring in films like ‘In Cold Blood’, ‘Lost Highway’ and ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’. He also played Tony Baretta in “Baretta”…a role that won him an Emmy in 1975.
Blake was 89 years old.