Robert Blake Dies at 89 Due to Heart Disease; Emmy Award Winner Was Acquitted in Wife’s Killing

Sadly, heart illness claimed the life of Emmy Award-winning actor Robert Blake at the age of 89. He went from receiving praise from critics to being found not guilty of killing his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Robert passed away from heart illness. He had previously planned to return to the film industry, but after his wife was shot, he was never able to do so.

At the age of 89, Robert Blake, the Emmy-winning actor who gained fame for his acting before being found not guilty of killing his wife, passed away on Thursday. Blake passed away from heart illness at his Los Angeles home while accompanied by family, according to a statement issued on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin. Blake, the star of the 1970s television series “Baretta,” had once dreamed of making a comeback, but he never fully recovered from the lengthy agony that started on May 4, 2001, when his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was shot dead outside a restaurant in Studio City.

The tale of their bizarre union, the child it gave birth to, and its terrible demise was a courtroom version of a Hollywood tragedy. Blake, who was once praised as one of the best actors of his time, gained more notoriety as the defendant in a murder trial that actually happened—a narrative more weird than any he had ever performed in. While incarcerated before trial, he lamented the shift in his popularity among his supporters across the country in an interview with The Associated Press in 2002, saying, “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

He insisted that he had not murdered his wife, and in the end, a jury found him not guilty. However, a civil jury would find him accountable for her death and mandate that he pay $30 million to Bakley’s family; this decision forced him into bankruptcy. It was a shameful end to a life spent in the public eye since childhood. As a child, he appeared in the popular comedy series “Our Gang” in the iconic film “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” He received accolades as an adult for his portrayal of actual murderer Perry Smith in the Truman Capote film “In Cold Blood.”

A year after his acquittal, Blake expressed his desire to start over in an interview with the AP in 2006. “I’d like to give my best performance,” he replied. “I want to leave Rosie with a legacy about who I am. A puppy and fishing rod aren’t quite ready for me yet. I wish I could go to bed every night with the desire to wake up every morning and work some magic.