'Baretta' actor Robert Blake, who was tried for wife's murder, dead at 89

Actor Robert Blake leaves court for the lunch break, Oct. 3, 2005, after his second day of testimony in a wrongful death lawsuit, brought by the family of Bonny Lee Bakley, in Burbank, Calif. Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted of murdering his wife, died Thursday, March 9, 2023, at age 89. – Photo: AP

Actor Robert Blake, who played a mass killer in the film adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and was acquitted of killing his own real-life wife, has died in Los Angeles, US media reported Thursday. He was 89.

The showbiz outlet Deadline reported Blake had died of heart disease, and said his niece Noreen Austin had confirmed the news.