Daughter of 'Baretta' Star Shares Her 1st Pic with Dad: She Opened Up about Their Relationship after Mom's Death

• Hollywood lost the legendary actor Robert Blake, and his daughter lost her father.
• His career and personal life were shattered after he was named in his wife's death.
• The star's daughter contacted him 14 years later and never asked if he was responsible for her mother's death.

Robert Blake's television and film career started with his starring in the "Our Gang" comedies. He later got to be in "In Cold Blood," where his character was a killer, but he also got to play the role of a television detective, Tony Baretta, in "Baretta."

However, all those roles were eclipsed by his trial and acquittal in the death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, in 2001. On March 9, 2023, the actor passed away at age 89 at his Los Angeles home with his niece Noreen Austin, revealing that long-term heart disease was the cause.

His role as Baretta came in the late 1970s, with the character living with Fred - his pet cockatoo - in a run-down hotel. The detective would disguise himself as a janitor, waiter, barber, and more to capture the bad guys, with his catchphrase being:

"You can take dat to da bank."

Speaking about his role as Perry Smith in 1967's "In Cold Blood," Robert said he took the part because he wanted to know what a murderer was a "millionth of a second" before they shot someone. From 2004 until 2005, a jury wondered if the star could answer that question during his wife's trial.

The celebrity's life wasn't easy, as the fatal incident that took his wife ruined his career and family life. In the next section, we look at how the tragedy caused him to lose connection with his daughter for over a decade.

Was Robert Responsible for His Wife's Death?

Robert met Bakley at a jazz club in 1999 at around age 67 or 68 when his career had stalled, and his life was on hold. The actor had been alone for a while when Bakley took him out of the stands and gave him something to live for.

When she gave birth to a daughter named Rose "Rosie" Lenore Blake, she thought Christian Brando was the father, but DNA proved Robert was the parent. The actor met his daughter when she was two months old, and she became his priority and married Bakley because of her.

He imagined that he and Rose would walk off into the sunset together, but at his trial, prosecutors alleged that he'd planned his wife's death to get sole custody. They accused him of hiring assassins, but the evidence wasn't clear, and the theory was rejected.

On May 4, 2001, Robert went out for dinner with Bakley, then 44, on the last night she was alive. The star claimed he left her in the car to get his gun in the Italian restaurant when she was shot, but police were confused why he wasn't arrested until a year later.

The celebrity's gun wasn't the murder weapon, as the right one was found in a dumpster nearby. In April 2002, Robert was charged with a capital offense and soliciting stuntmen to take his wife out, but he pleaded not guilty.

He was denied bail and was in jail for 11 months until it was granted in March 2003. The star was free for almost two years while awaiting his trial, and years later after he was acquitted, in 2019, he said he wasn't done fighting, saying:

"I'm 85 years old, I'm beat up all to hell and gone, but I'm still here."

Rose was raised in Sherman Oaks by her half-sister Delinah and her husband. She'd last seen Robert when she was five, and by 2019 she was living a private life away from the limelight, and after 14 years, Rose decided to restore her relationship with her father.

Rose Restored Her Relationship with Robert after 14 Years: She Paid Tribute to Him after His Death

Rose was 11 months old when her mother died and a year older when her father was charged with Bakley's death. In October 2019, the Emmy Award winner's daughter confessed:

"It was kind of a traumatic childhood at that point."

The star's daughter, who referred to him by name, met him for the first time that summer and said they talked about her childhood, his life, and what he'd been doing. The pair's relationship had healed enough that Rose could honor him in death.

At 19, Rose [Lenore Blake] was content with living her life and doing the best she could.

Robert's daughter experienced depression and anxiety over the years and received unwanted media attention after Bakley's death. As a teenage cheerleader, she recalled seeing a man taking pictures of her at her high school football game but continued going.

She chose to reconnect with her estranged father when she turned 18 and visited Bakley's grave when ready. In 2019, she was 19, living a happy life with her two cats and her boyfriend, with a wish to pursue acting.

Rose kept busy with soccer, gymnastics, piano, dance, and cheerleading. The actor's daughter felt it was useless to have an opinion about whether Robert was guilty of murdering her mother because she'd end up troubling herself.

At 19, Rose was content with living her life and doing the best she could. When her father died, she paid tribute to him by sharing an old Instagram photo of her as a baby and thanked all those who'd sent messages.

A fan replied to the post hoping Robert and his daughter could mend things. The person said they never believed he was guilty of murder and had always liked him, was saddened by his passing, and hoped he was in a better place and "I hope he has found peace."

Subscribe to AmoMama on Google News!