AND DAT’S THE NAME OF DAT TOMB
Tinseltown’s very own OJ is out of juice. Robert Blake was born into showbiz, doing vaudeville when he was still in diapers and becoming the final star of the Our Gang child-centric comedy shorts in the early 40s. Though the child roles kept trickling in (he was a Native American sidekick in the Red Ryder western film series and sold Humphrey Bogart the winning lottery ticket in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), he didn’t truly come into form as an actor until adulthood with his prophetic breakout role as real-life killer Perry Smith in 1967 Capote adaptation In Cold Blood.
His most popular role came as the titular unconventional cop in detective programme Baretta, noted for his pet cockatoo and straight-shooting “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time” catchphrase. Behind-the-scenes were often tempestuous as the result of Blake’s headstrong personality and drug addictions dating to his early career. His last hurrah was as the Mystery Man in David Lynch film Lost Highway, but he returned to the spotlight for wholly different reasons after the fatal shooting of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Bakley was a long-time celebrity chaser who had in the past pursued pristine stars such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Gary Busey. Despite the likelihood of Blake being the murderer, he was ultimately acquitted though would never jumpstart his career afterwards. He was 89 and five teams can take dat to the bank.
Robert Blake
19 September 1933 – 9 March 2023, aged 89
2 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS)