Michael James

Robert Blake (born Michael James Gubitosi), billed early in his career as Mickey Gubitosi and Bobby Blake, was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the 1967 film In Cold Blood, playing the title role in the late 1970s television series Baretta, and playing the Mystery Man in the 1997 film Lost Highway. Blake began his career in the 1930s performing as a child alongside his family in song and as a dancer but became famous as a child actor, with his lead role in the final years of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-era of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) 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 adult roles, the Italian-American actor was often cast as an American Indian or Latino character. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Blake returned to acting in both television and movie roles. Blake continued acting until 1997's Lost Highway. Owing to Blake becoming one of the first child actors to successfully transition to mature roles as an adult, author Michael Newton called his career "one of the longest in Hollywood history". Blake's later career unravelled in 2002, when he was arrested for the 2001 murder of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. Blake was acquitted of the murder in criminal court in 2005, but he was found liable in a civil court for her wrongful death.