Robert Blake Appears Frail On His 85th birthday — 17 Years After Wife’s Murder
Sep. 19 2018, Published 5:32 p.m. ET
RadarOnline.com has obtained exclusive photos of Robert Blake looking frail on his birthday. Click through the gallery to find out more about the actor, who was found liable in civil court for his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley’s murder over 17 years ago.
Blake was spotted out and about near his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on Sept. 18, his 85th birthday.
The former Baretta actor shuffled along in a stained oversized black t-shirt and a military-style cap.
Blake was heading to the House of Billiards on his big day.
As RadarOnline.com reported, the disgraced star was accused of shooting his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, to death in 2001.
Blake claimed at the time that he discovered his wife Bakley shot in their car on the evening of May 4, 2001 — just shy of her 45th birthday.
According to his story, she had been waiting for him in their car after he had to run back to Vitello’s, the Studio City restaurant where they had just dined, to retrieve a gun he had left inside. However, he claimed he had nothing to do with his wife’s death, and the gun he retrieved was later found not to have been the murder weapon.
Still, Blake was arrested for his wife’s death in April 2002. At the trial, a pair of stuntman claimed the actor tried to hire them to kill his wife.
Four years after Bakley’s 2001 death, Blake was acquitted of murder. The jury noted they never believed the stuntmen’s stories and faulted prosecution for not connecting the gun that killed Bakley back to her husband.
However, a California jury found the actor liable for wrongful death in civil court in November 2005.
A judge ordered Blake to cough up $30,000,000 to Bakley’s surviving children. We pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at (866) ON-RADAR (667-2327) any time, day or night.