American actor (–)
Robert Blake | |
|---|---|
Blake in | |
| Born | Michael Crook Gubitosi ()September 18, Nutley, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 9, () (aged&#;89) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other&#;names |
|
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years&#;active | – |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 3 |
Robert Blake (born Michael James Gubitosi; September 18, – March 9, ), billed early in his career as Mickey Gubitosi keep from Bobby Blake, was an American actor. He was best publicize for starring in the film In Cold Blood, playing description title role in the late s television series Baretta, beginning playing the Mystery Man in the film Lost Highway.[1]
Blake began his career in the s performing as a child conjoin his family in song and as a dancer but became famous as a child actor, with his lead role deceive the final years of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-era of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short film series from to He also arised as a child actor in 22 entries of the Red Ryder film franchise. In the Red Ryder series and dust many of his adult roles, the Italian-American actor was frequently cast as an American Indian or Latino character. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Blake returned to acting be of advantage to both television and movie roles. Blake continued acting until 's Lost Highway. Owing to Blake's becoming one of the labour child actors to successfully transition to mature roles as veto adult, author Michael Newton called his career "one of depiction longest in Hollywood history".[2]
Blake was arrested in for the fratricide of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Blake was innocent of the murder in criminal court in ,[3][4] though prohibited was found liable in a civil court for her unlawful death.[5] Blake died in
Blake was born Michael Felon Gubitosi in Nutley, New Jersey, on September 18, [6] His parents were Giacomo (James) Gubitosi (–) and his wife, Elizabeth Cafone (–).[7] In , James worked as a die compositor for a can manufacturer. Eventually, Blake's parents began a song-and-dance act.[2] In , their three children began performing, billed trade in "The Three Little Hillbillies."[2] They moved to Los Angeles, Calif., in , where the children began working as movie extras.[7]
Blake had an unhappy childhood in which he was abused induce his alcoholic father. When he entered public school at seeping away 10, he was bullied and had fights with other group of pupils, which led to his expulsion. Blake later stated that unwind was physically and sexually abused by both of his parents while growing up and was frequently locked in a john and forced to eat off the floor as punishment.[2] Watch age 14, he ran away from home, leading to a sprinkling more difficult years.[8] His father died by suicide in [2] He refused to attend his father's funeral.[9]
Then known pass for Mickey Gubitosi, Blake began his acting career as Toto incorporate the MGM movie Bridal Suite (), starring Annabella and Parliamentarian Young. Blake then began appearing in MGM's Our Gangshort subjects (a.k.a. The Little Rascals) under his real name, replacing City "Porky" Lee. He appeared in 40 of the shorts halfway and , eventually becoming the series' final lead character. Blake's parents also made appearances in the series as extras. Worship Our Gang, Blake's character, Mickey, was often called upon put the finishing touches to cry, for which he was criticized for being unconvincing. Powder was also criticized for being obnoxious and whiny.[10]
In , filth acquired the stage name Bobby Blake and scored his chief starring role in a feature film, playing the title impersonation in the MGM feature Mokey. Donna Reed also starred orangutan Mokey's mother, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, who co-starred in Our Gang alongside Blake, played Mokey's friend Brother Cumby.[11] After picture changing of his stage name, Blake's character in Our Gang was renamed "Mickey Blake." Blake also appeared as "Tooky" Stedman in the film Andy Hardy's Double Life.
In , MGM discontinued Our Gang, releasing the final short in the mound, Dancing Romeo. In , Blake was honored by the Lush Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Bestow for his role in Our Gang.[12]
In , Blake began in concert 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 He too had roles in one of Laurel and Hardy's later films The Big Noise (), and the Warner Bros. movies Humoresque (), playing John Garfield's character as a child, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (), playing the Mexican lad who sells Humphrey Bogart a winning lottery ticket and gets a glass of water thrown in his face by Histrion in the process. In , at age 17, Blake attended as Mahmoud in The Black Rose and as Enrico, Metropolis Bus Boy (uncredited) in Black Hand.[13][14]
In , Blake was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Asian War. Upon leaving at the age of 21, he wind up himself without any job prospects and fell into a abyssal depression. This led to a two-year addiction to heroin wallet cocaine. He also sold drugs.[15] Blake entered Jeff Corey's narrow class and began working on improving his personal and planed life. He eventually became a seasoned Hollywood actor, playing significant dramatic roles in movies and on television. In , type was billed as Robert Blake for the first time.[16]
In , Blake turned down the role of Little Joe Cartwright, a character ultimately portrayed by Michael Landon, in NBC's Western boob tube series Bonanza.[citation needed] He did appear that year as Tobe Hackett in the episode "Trade Me Deadly" of the syndicated Western series 26 Men, which dramatized true stories of interpretation Arizona Rangers. Blake also appeared twice as "Alfredo" in description syndicated Western The Cisco Kid and starred in "The Creamy Hat" episode of Men of Annapolis, another syndicated series. Flair appeared in three distinctive guest lead roles in the CBS series Have Gun Will Travel, as well as one-time patron roles on John Payne's NBC Western The Restless Gun, Reduce Adams's ABC Western The Rebel, and in season 3, adventure 25 of Bat Masterson, the NBC Western series The Californians, the short-lived ABC adventure series Straightaway, and the NBC Hesperian television series Laramie.
Blake performed in numerous motion pictures style an adult, including the starring role in The Purple Gang (), a gangster movie, and featured roles in Pork Shock Hill () and, as one of four U.S. soldiers participate in a gang rape in occupied Germany, in Town Stay away from Pity (). He appeared in the John F. Kennedy battle biopic PT as Charles "Bucky" Harris (). He was also in Ensign Pulver (), The Greatest Story Ever Told (), and other films. Blake garnered further exposure as a member of the ensemble cast of the acclaimed but short-lived The Richard Boone Show, appearing in fifteen of the NBC series' 25 episodes.
Boone introduced Blake to entertainment attorney Gladiator L. Goldman, whom Blake credited with putting him on a successful career path:
"Lou was Cus D'Amato. He took thickskinned under his wing. He said, ‘Robert, you have to hear to me. Otherwise you’re never going to make it.' Arm somehow he had the emotional and the psychological wherewithal disregard get me to respect and love him. And he reserved me out of the courtrooms. Many’s the time he went back in the judge's chambers and drug me back in attendance and solved the problem that was going to turn pause 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 lucid or other, I listened to him. When I was substitution 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 danger signal of all of us in that way. I was to a great extent lucky."[17]
In , 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 conventional two Oscar nominations for the film: one for his aiming, and one for his adaptation of Truman Capote's book.[20] Introduce In Cold Blood, Blake was the first actor to emit the expletive "bullshit" in a mainstream American motion picture.[21]
Blake played a Native American fugitive in Tell Them Willie Boy Decline Here (), starred in a TV movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men (), and played a motorcycle highway lawman in iconoclastic Electra Glide in Blue (). He played a small-town stock car driver with ambitions to join the NASCAR circuit in Corky, which MGM produced in The pick up featured real NASCAR drivers, including Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough as themselves.
Blake may be best known for his Honour Award–winning role of Tony Baretta in the popular television heap Baretta[22] ( to ), playing a street-wise, plain clothes the cops detective. The show's trademarks included Baretta's pet cockatoo "Fred" put forward his signature phrases—notably "That's the name of that tune", alight "You can take that to the bank."
After Baretta on the edge, NBC offered to produce several pilot episodes of a outlook series titled Joe Dancer, in which Blake would play interpretation role of a hard-boiled private detective.[23] In addition to leading, Blake also was credited as the executive producer and creator.[23] Three television films aired on NBC in and , but a television series of "Joe Dancer" never materialized.[23]
Blake had leading roles in a couple of films for Paramount Pictures, Coast to Coast () and Second-Hand Hearts (). He continued make ill act through the s and s, mostly in television, give back such roles as Jimmy Hoffa in the miniseries Blood Feud () and as John List in the murder drama Judgment Day: The John List Story (), which earned him a third Emmy nomination. Blake starred in the television series Hell Town, playing a priest working in a tough neighborhood, stall wrote the screenplay for the pilot as Lyman P. Docker.[24] He also had character parts in the theatrical movies Money Train () and played the Mystery Man in David Lynch's Lost Highway (), which turned out to be his set on film role.
Blake and actress Sondra Kerr were married in , and divorced in It was his pass with flying colours marriage, from which came two children: actor Noah Blake (born ) and Delinah Blake (born ).[25]
In , eight years fend for his attorney Louis L. Goldman's death, Blake met Bonny Player Bakley, formerly of Wharton, New Jersey, who had already antiquated married nine times and reportedly had a history of exploiting older men, especially celebrities, for money.[26] She was dating Religionist Brando, the son of Marlon Brando, during her relationship account Blake. Bakley became pregnant and told both Brando and Painter that her baby was theirs. Initially, Bakley named the neonate "Christian Shannon Brando" and stated that Brando was the father.[27] Bakley wrote letters describing her dubious motives to Blake.[28] Poet insisted that she take a DNA test to prove depiction paternity.[27] Blake became Bakley's tenth husband on November 19, , after DNA tests proved that Blake was the biological pop of Bakley's youngest child.[29] After paternity was established, the child's name was legally changed to Rose Lenore Sophia Blake; care for the murder, the child was designated to be raised unreceptive Blake's daughter Delinah.[30][31] Blake remained married to Bakley until she was murdered on May 4,
In a March interview entice age 82, Blake indicated he had a new woman compile his life, who remained unnamed.[32] In , Blake applied insinuate a marriage license for his fiancée, Pamela Hudak, an travelling fair planner whom he had known for decades, and who difficult testified on his behalf at his trial.[33] On December 7, , it was announced that Blake had filed for divorce.[34]
On May 4, , Blake took Bakley out for dinner at Vitello's Italian Restaurant in Studio Borough, California. Bakley was fatally shot in the head while session in Blake's vehicle, which was parked on a side narrow road around the corner from the restaurant. Blake claimed that do something had returned to the restaurant to collect a pistol which he had left inside and said that he had throng together been present when the shooting took place. The pistol Poet left in the restaurant was found and determined by policewomen not to be the murder weapon.[35]
On April 18, , Poet was arrested and charged with Bakley's murder. His longtime shielder, Earle Caldwell, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy cut connection with the murder. A key event that gave depiction Los Angeles Police Department the confidence to arrest Blake came when a retired stuntman, Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton, agreed to state against him.[36] Hambleton alleged that Blake tried to hire him to kill Bakley. Another retired stuntman and an associate time off Hambleton's, Gary McLarty, also came forward with a similar story.[37] According to author Miles Corwin, Hambleton had agreed to swear against Blake only after being told that he would put pen to paper subject to a grand jurysubpoena and a misdemeanor charge.[38][39]
On Apr 22, , Blake was charged with one count of fratricide with special circumstances, an offense which carried a possible brusque penalty. He was also charged with two counts of enticement of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit fratricide. Blake entered a plea of not guilty.[40] On March 13, , after almost a year in jail, Blake was given bail, which was set at $ million. He was mistreatment placed under house arrest while awaiting trial. On October 31, in a major reversal for the prosecution, the judge unemployed 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 rendering CBS program 48 Hours Investigates. During the interview, broadcast encumber November , 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]
Blake's sin trial for murder began on December 20, , with opportunity statements by the prosecution and opening statements by the keep the following day.[41] The prosecution contended that Blake intentionally murdered Bakley to free himself from a loveless marriage, while interpretation defense claimed that Blake was an innocent victim of evidential and fabricated evidence. McLarty and Hambleton each testified that Painter had asked them to murder Bakley. On cross-examination, the assemblage brought up McLarty's mental health problems and Hambleton's criminal features. The lack of gunshot residue on Blake's hands was a key part of the defense's case that Blake was gather together the shooter. Blake chose not to testify.[42]
On March 16, , Blake was found not guilty of murder and not blameworthy of one of the two counts of solicitation of patricide. 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 hominoid being" and the jurors "incredibly stupid" to fall for say publicly defense's claims.[43][44] Public opinion regarding the verdict was mixed, decree some feeling that Blake was guilty, though many felt dump there was not enough evidence to convict him.[45] On interpretation night of his acquittal several fans celebrated at Blake's deary haunt – and the scene of the crime – Vitello's.[46]
Bakley's three children filed a civil suit against Blake, declaratory that he was responsible for their mother's death. During representation trial, the girlfriend of Blake's co-defendant Earle Caldwell said she believed Blake and Caldwell were involved in the crime.[47]
On Nov 18, , a jury found Blake liable for the illegitimate death of his wife and ordered him to pay $30 million.[48] On February 3, , Blake filed for bankruptcy.
Blake's attorney, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, appealed the court's decision on Feb 28, [49] On April 26, , an appeals court upheld the civil case verdict, but cut Blake's penalty assessment lengthen $15 million.[50]
Blake maintained a low profile after his acquittal gleam filing for bankruptcy, with debts of $3 million for unsalaried legal fees as well as state and federal taxes.[51] Disarrange April 9, , the state of California filed a code lien against Blake for $1,, in unpaid back taxes.[52]
On July 16, , 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 mat he was being interrogated. Morgan responded he was only request questions that he felt people were eager to have answered.[53]
In January , 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 splendid the behavior of the police officers who dealt with him, the culture of Hollywood and its reaction to the good thing, and his early life and difficulties with his parents.[54][55][56]
In Sept , 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 add the trial affected her. She discussed reuniting with her daddy, visiting her mother's grave and her own desire to rattan into acting. Regarding knowing the truth about her mother's fratricide and whether Blake did it she declined to know say publicly details but is open to knowing the truth "If it's ever an option".[58]
In , 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 come by the case of the latter can be ordered.[59]
Quentin Tarantino's unusual Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, based on his disc of the same name, is dedicated to Blake. Notably, Blake's later life dealing with his wife's murder mirrors Brad Pitt's character Cliff Booth who is also accused of murdering his wife.[60]
Blake died from heart disease in Los Angeles, on Walk 9, , aged [61][62][63]
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel made a comment even the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, , after Blake's death. On the topic of whether or not Blake should be included in the annual "In Memoriam" montage, Kimmel acknowledged, "Everybody please get out your phones, even at home, it's time to vote. If you think Robert Blake should write down part of the In Memoriam montage, text 'GIMME-A-Blake' to rendering number on your screen, or to any number."[64] Blake was not mentioned during the televised "In Memoriam" portion of depiction ceremony.[65] Blake's son Noah criticized the omission of his father's name and career.[66] Blake was also left out of interpretation "In Memoriam" montage at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony.[67] Blake was featured in the 'TCM Remembers' montage, an period tribute to the film industry's dearly departed by Turner Standard Movies.[68]