Legally embattled actor Alec Baldwin has asked fans to focus on late Hollywood outcast Robert Blake’s contributions to film and TV rather than Blake’s “legal entanglements.”
“Robert Blake has died. I realize that many people have had harsh feelings toward him,” Baldwin wrote on Instagram. “His life seemed to involve many dramatic legal entanglements.”
Baldwin continued, “Today, I want [to] remember him as the incredibly gifted actor he was. A child actor who made countless films in the ’40s.” He went on to name the films Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Town Without Pity, Electra Glide in Blue, and more, as well as Blake’s Emmy-winning role in the ABC detective series Baretta.
According to Baldwin, however, Blake’s performance in 1967’s In Cold Blood “cemented his place in movie history.” He added, “The brooding, baby-faced Blake had a difficult life. However, when you watch IN COLD BLOOD, you are transfixed and overwhelmed by his work in this masterpiece.”
See the full post below, which includes a clip from In Cold Blood.
Blake died in Los Angeles from heart disease on Thursday at the age of 89.
His “legal entanglements” were no small matter. Blake’s second wife Bonny Lee Bakley was shot and killed in his car on May 12th, 2001, after which the actor was arrested and charged with murder. In March 2005, Blake was acquitted in a highly publicized criminal trial, but he was found liable for Bakley’s wrongful death in California civil court just six months later.
Just last year, Baldwin lauded director Woody Allen while offering a similar message. “I have ZERO INTEREST in anyone’s judgments and sanctimonious posts here,” he wrote, before referencing an HBO documentary that covered allegations from Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow that he sexually molested her when she was just 7 years old. “I am OBVIOUSLY someone who has my own set of beliefs and COULD NOT CARE LESS about anyone else’s speculation.”
Meanwhile, Baldwin is facing his own involuntary manslaughter charges for firing the prop gun that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. In May, Baldwin will face a two-week hearing in Santa Fe court, where prosecutors intend to show there’s enough evidence to try him for the death of Hutchins. Rust is expected to resume filming this spring alongside a documentary about Hutchins.
