Robert Blake(1933-2023)
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
American actor who began as a child in Our Gang comedies and reappeared
as a powerful adult performer of leading and character roles. Born in
New Jersey, the young Mickey Gubitosi won a role in MGM's Our Gang
series at the age of 5. As one of the more prominent children in the
Gang, he gained attention for his cute good looks and his lovable, if
somewhat melancholy, personality.
In 1940 he took on the stage name Bobby Blake (though he continued to
use the name Mickey Gubitosi in the Our Gang series for another three
years) and began playing child roles in a wide range of films. He
gained a good deal of fame as the Indian sidekick Little Beaver in the
Red Ryder series of Westerns. Though roles were sporadic as he grew to
manhood, he was never long off the screen (except for a period of
military service, 1954-56). But despite some fine work in films like
Pork Chop Hill (1959) and
Town Without Pity (1961), his
career did not take off until his stunning portrayal of killer Perry
Smith in In Cold Blood (1967). A
number of telling performances in films of the next decade, stardom in
a popular television series
(Baretta (1975), and several ruefully
comic appearances as a guest on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
made him a popular figure even as his personal difficulties increased.
Consumed with anger over his treatment by his family and the studio as
a child, he denigrated his early work, suffered bouts of difficulty
with drugs, and became known as a difficult, perfectionist person to
work with. He quit his successful TV series
Hell Town (1985) when his personal
demons became overwhelming. After a self-imposed exile of nearly eight
years, during which he struggled to right his life, he successfully
returned to films and television work, appearing renewed and more
confident in himself and his work.
In 2001, though, the murder of his wife, Bonnie Bakley, thrust Blake
into the limelight in a different way. Admittedly having married Bakley
through the coercion of her pregnancy, a routine Bakley had apparently
tried with various other celebrities, Blake made no denial of his
distaste for the woman, but was by all accounts thrilled with the
daughter born to them. Blake was arrested for his wife's murder, but
the presumption of innocence trumped when jurors didn't believe what they thought was flimsy
evidence, and Blake was acquitted in a trial that made worldwide
headlines. Reportedly broke from legal costs, Blake indicated
hopefulness that he might be allowed to return to acting work.
as a powerful adult performer of leading and character roles. Born in
New Jersey, the young Mickey Gubitosi won a role in MGM's Our Gang
series at the age of 5. As one of the more prominent children in the
Gang, he gained attention for his cute good looks and his lovable, if
somewhat melancholy, personality.
In 1940 he took on the stage name Bobby Blake (though he continued to
use the name Mickey Gubitosi in the Our Gang series for another three
years) and began playing child roles in a wide range of films. He
gained a good deal of fame as the Indian sidekick Little Beaver in the
Red Ryder series of Westerns. Though roles were sporadic as he grew to
manhood, he was never long off the screen (except for a period of
military service, 1954-56). But despite some fine work in films like
Pork Chop Hill (1959) and
Town Without Pity (1961), his
career did not take off until his stunning portrayal of killer Perry
Smith in In Cold Blood (1967). A
number of telling performances in films of the next decade, stardom in
a popular television series
(Baretta (1975), and several ruefully
comic appearances as a guest on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)
made him a popular figure even as his personal difficulties increased.
Consumed with anger over his treatment by his family and the studio as
a child, he denigrated his early work, suffered bouts of difficulty
with drugs, and became known as a difficult, perfectionist person to
work with. He quit his successful TV series
Hell Town (1985) when his personal
demons became overwhelming. After a self-imposed exile of nearly eight
years, during which he struggled to right his life, he successfully
returned to films and television work, appearing renewed and more
confident in himself and his work.
In 2001, though, the murder of his wife, Bonnie Bakley, thrust Blake
into the limelight in a different way. Admittedly having married Bakley
through the coercion of her pregnancy, a routine Bakley had apparently
tried with various other celebrities, Blake made no denial of his
distaste for the woman, but was by all accounts thrilled with the
daughter born to them. Blake was arrested for his wife's murder, but
the presumption of innocence trumped when jurors didn't believe what they thought was flimsy
evidence, and Blake was acquitted in a trial that made worldwide
headlines. Reportedly broke from legal costs, Blake indicated
hopefulness that he might be allowed to return to acting work.