Robert Blake, whose lengthy career was marred by allegations that he murdered his wife, has passed away.
He was recognized as the protagonist of the 1970s television detective series Baretta and acted in the 1997 film Lost Highway. Still, his career languished after the fatal shooting of his wife in 2001.
He was charged with her murder and acquitted but was later held civilly accountable for her death.
Blake died “peacefully with family and friends present,” according to his relatives.
Thursday, his niece Noreen Austin released a statement stating that he died of heart problems.
Once his family moved to Hollywood, the New Jersey native debuted in the Our Gang comedy series as a child.
Beginning his career in the late 1930s, he portrayed the killer Perry Smith in the 1967 film adaptation of Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood.
In addition to his part in the NBC series Hell Town, he was nominated for an Emmy for the CBS made-for-television film Judgement Day: The John List Story.
Once regarded as one of the best performers of his generation, following his imprisonment his career never recovered.
Bonny Lee Bakley, the wife of Mr. Blake, was shot while alone in the actor’s car in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The actor told authorities he left her alone to return to the Italian restaurant where they had just dined to collect a revolver he had forgotten and found her dead upon his return.
Four years after her death, during which Mr. Blake spent a year in jail awaiting trial, a jury in Los Angeles ruled him not guilty of her murder.
At the time, many analogies were made to the trial of celebrity OJ Simpson, who was convicted of murdering his ex-wife in Los Angeles a decade earlier.
Later, a judge in a civil proceeding ordered him to pay $30m (£25m) to his ex-children, and wife causing him to declare bankruptcy.
Despite his lost appeal, he reduced the fine to $15 million. Mr. Blake maintained his innocence at all times.
Until their divorce in 1983, he was married to actress Sondra Kerr for 22 years and fathered four children during his lifetime.
In 2017, he married his longtime friend Pamela Hudak, but two years later, they split.
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