"Baretta" & His Cockatoo..."Fred" !

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/LT.HIGHTIMES/1a1Baretta.jpg[/img] Robert Blake (born September 18, 1933) is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta and Hell Town. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death. Blake was born Michael James Vincenzo Gubitosi in Nutley, New Jersey, to Giacomo (James) Gubitosi (1906–1956) and Elizabeth Cafone (b. 1910). His brother was James Gubitosi (1930–1995) and his sister was Giovanna Gubitosi (1932–1985). His father was born in Italy, arriving in the United States in 1907, and his mother was an Italian-American born in New Jersey. They married in 1929.[citation needed] In 1930, James worked as a die setter for a can manufacturer. Eventually, James and Elizabeth began a song-and-dance act. In 1936, the three children began performing, billed as "The Three Little Hillbillies." They moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1938, where the children began working as movie extras. He and actress Sondra Kerr were married in 1961 and divorced in 1983. They had two children, actor Noah Blake (born 1965) and Delinah Blake (born 1966). In 1999, Blake met Bonnie Lee Bakley, formerly of Wharton, New Jersey, who reportedly had a history of exploiting older men for money, especially celebrities. She was dating Christian Brando, son of Marlon Brando, during her relationship with Blake. Bakley became pregnant and told both Brando and Blake that they were the father. Initially, Bakley named the baby "Christian Shannon Brando" and stated that Brando was the father of her child. Bakley wrote letters describing her dubious motives to Blake. Blake insisted that she take a DNA test to prove the paternity. Blake and Bakley married November 19, 2000 after DNA tests proved Blake to be the biological father of her child, renamed Rose. It was his second marriage, her tenth. Although they were married, Bakley lived in a small guest house behind her husband's house in the Studio City area of the San Fernando Valley. On May 4, 2001, Blake took Bakley to Vitello's Restaurant on Tujunga Avenue in Studio City. Afterward, Bakley was killed by a gunshot to the head while sitting in the car, which was parked around the corner from the restaurant. Blake told the police he had gone back inside the restaurant to get a gun he left at the table and was there when the shooting occurred. The gun, a 38 caliber pistol, was tested and found not to be the gun that killed Bakley, which wasdetermined to be a 9 mm pistol. Though witnesses in the restaurant testified that Blake indeed returned to the restaurant once, claiming that his wife had been shot, no witnesses claim to have seen him return prior to that, supposedly to retrieve the gun he left at the table where he and Bakley ate. Almost one year later, on April 18, 2002, Blake was arrested and charged in connection with the murder of his wife. His longtime bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy in connection with murder. A key event that gave the LAPD the confidence to arrest Blake came when a retired stuntman, Ronald "Duffy" Hambleton, agreed to testify against him.Hambleton alleged that Blake tried to hire him to kill Bonnie Lee Bakley. Another retired stuntman and an associate of Hambleton's, Gary McLarty, came forward with a similar story. According to author Miles Corwin, Hambleton agreed to testify against Blake only after being told he would be subject to a grand jury subpoena and a pending misdemeanor charge. Hambleton's motives for testifying were called into question by Blake's defense team during the criminal trial. On April 22, 2002, Blake was charged with one count of murder with special circumstances, an offense eligible for the death penalty. He was also charged with two counts of solicitation of murder and one count of murder conspiracy. Blake pleaded not guilty to all charges. Caldwell was charged with a single count of murder conspiracy and also pleaded not guilty. Three days later, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office announced they would not seek the death penalty against Blake should he be convicted, but prosecutors would seek a sentence of life in prison without parole. After Blake posted US$1 million bail, Caldwell was released, but a judge denied bail for Blake. On March 13, 2003, after almost a year in jail, Blake was granted bail, which was set at US$1.5 million, and he was allowed to go free to await trial. Blake was placed on house arrest during this time.lake's criminal trial for murder began in December 2004. On March 16, 2005, Blake was found not guilty of the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley and of one of the two counts of solicitation of murder. The other count was dropped after it was revealed that the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of an acquittal. Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, commenting on this ruling, called Blake a "miserable human being" and the jurors "incredibly stupid." Blake's defense team, led by attorney M. Gerald Schwartzbach, and members of the jury responded that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.Trial analysts also agreed with the jury's verdict. On the night of his acquittal several fans celebrated at Blake's favorite haunt, Vitello's.