Life and Career of Robert Blake

L O S  A N G E L E S, May 12 -- On TV’s Baretta, Robert Blake was thetough and cocky cop who always knew right from wrong.

“I told you, man, nobody kills nobody. That’s the rules. Idon’t know no other way,” the detective declared as he busted akiller in an episode of the 1970s drama.

Now, with police investigating whether the 67-year-old Blake hada role in his wife’s slaying, the question is how much of a gulfexists between the actor and his Emmy-winning screen image, foreverassociated with a theme song with the line: “Don’t do the crime ifyou can’t do the time.”

“He’s got a cloud over him,” said attorney Harland Braun, whorepresents Blake. “I mean, isn’t that the problem with Hollywood,is what people think you are rather than what you really are? Ithink he’s learning a fast lesson in reality.”

Wife Shot in Car

Bonny Lee Bakley, 45, married Blake four months ago after apaternity test showed he fathered her 11-month-old daughter. Bakleywas shot in Blake’s car May 4 at a restaurant where the couple haddined.

Police have said they have not ruled out anyone as a suspect inthe slaying, and Braun has acknowledged the actor has come undersuspicion. Braun said his client had returned to the restaurant toretrieve a gun he had left behind and then found his wife had beenshot.

Braun and others have portrayed Bakley as a schemer who tappedlonely men for money through a mail-order business and the sale ofnude photos. Friends and relatives have described Bakley asobsessed with celebrity.

‘His Devils … Destroyed Him’

But it is Blake who is at the center of the Hollywood murdermystery.

To novelist Harry Crews, who profiled Blake for Esquire magazinein the mid-1970s, it was inevitable that the actor would end up afallen star.

“Whatever his devils were, they destroyed him. They destroyedhim long before he got into whatever he’s into now,” said Crews,who has stayed in touch with Blake over the years.