Robert Blake

Who is Robert Blake?

Robert Blake is an American actor having starring roles in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta.

Blake began performing as a child, with a lead role in the final years of MGM's Our Gang short film series from 1939 to 1944. He also appeared as a child actor in 22 entries of the Red Ryder film franchise. In the Red Ryder series and in many of his other roles as an adult, he was cast as a Native American or Latino character.

After a stint in the army, Blake returned to acting in both television and movie roles. He was married to Sondra Kerr, his first wife with whom he had two children, from 1964 until their divorce in 1983. He continued acting through 1997's Lost Highway for a career that author Michael Newton called "one of the longest in Hollywood history."

In 2005, Blake was tried and acquitted of the 2001 murder of his second wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.