That's Robert Blake. I'm reading his obituary this morning, "Robert Blake, ‘Baretta’ Star Acquitted in Wife’s Murder, Dies at 89/His film and TV career began with 'Our Gang' comedies and was highlighted by a performance as a mass killer in 'In Cold Blood.' But he led a tempestuous life" (NYT).
Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi was born on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, N.J. ... He told CNN in 2012 that his mother had twice tried to abort him with a coat hanger.... [H]e said his father, who worked for a can manufacturer, had been an alcoholic who forced him to eat from the floor, locked him in closets and sexually abused him.
When Michael was 2, his father enlisted him and his two older preschool siblings to dance for money in parks as “the Three Little Hillbillies” while the father played a guitar. “It was either doing that or stealing milk bottles off other people’s porches,” Mr. Blake said in a 1959 interview with The Los Angeles Times. Inspired by the success of child stars like Shirley Temple, his father in 1938 took his family to Hollywood. Michael was hired as an extra for the “Our Gang” shorts, later shown on television as “The Little Rascals.” When another child actor flubbed a line, Michael told the director, “I can do that.”...
After his trial, Mr. Blake told CNN, he grew a beard, lived on Twinkies and liked to wander into pool halls for a game of nine ball. “I was born lonely, I live lonely, and I’ll die lonely,” he said.
I was born lonely, I live lonely, and I’ll die lonely.
Perhaps that quote would have been a better post title, but I didn't think you would be terribly sad to see that Robert Blake has left the earthy scene. And perhaps your cares — whatever they may be — would be lightened to reenvision the man as a child. Didn't you watch that show when you were a child?
And don't you want to speculate about whether "Them crackers are salty and they made me thirsty" is the source of the great Seinfeld meme "These pretzels are making me thirsty"?
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26 comments:
Electraglide in Blue.
I just rewatched "In Cold Blood" on TCM. Truman made an anti-death penalty film, but I was rooting for the hangman. Dark movie
We were just remembering that my Father-in-law, a perfect host and social drinker, would carry around 3-4 saltines in his breast pocket before dinner. They were always so tidy, tucked in there, and so subtle. Whisky and a cracker, one of life's great pleasures.
I agree that Blake was really good in Electraglide in Blue. In Cold Bood, too. I even liked Barretta.
No. It’s sad. Did he outlive the cockatoo?
I wish saltine crackers were still as salty as in my childhood. And Mr. Salty pretzels too, for that matter.
Whisky and a cracker - there's a combination I haven't tried!
I had forgotten all about Blake. Now I want to review that case and see what I think today. I loved Beretta as a kid and remember being shocked when the murder happened, but I don't remember enough.
What do we think about Natalie Wood, on a similar subject? I also loved Hart To Hart as a kid.
An' 'at's the name a dat tune
Thought he was already gone.
Went to a company party at an Atlanta country club. Before dinner they served saltine crackers that had been baked in butter, served on small silver platters. Simple and surprisingly delicious…and so Southern!
He was a kind of proto-Pacino or Nic Cage. The intensity was real, but it wasn't always appropriate.....He had an unhappy life, but it would have been unhappier if he had spent it in prison. He didn't catch that many lucky breaks, but he probably did get away with murder. Is that his greatest achievement and what he will be mostly remembered for?
>but I didn't think you would be terribly sad to see that Robert Blake has left the earthy scene.<
You're quite right - I'm not in the least. But, you know, RIP, etc. That said, my abiding impression of Robert Blake has always been that he was an unpolished bullshitter. (Most especially about his wife's murder.)
He was guilty as hell of killing his wife. The jury - along with everybody else- concluded she deserved it.
Interesting- recognizably Robert Blake in that video.
Speaking of small men (as we were yesterday), how could the NY Times obit omit Robert Blake's several appearances in Red Ryder movies of the 1940s, playing the part of "Little Beaver"?
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/tv-and-movie-western-heros--328340629056038458/
Electra Glide in Blue and In Cold Blood were great movies.
I have a In Cold Blood connection. I met KBI Detective Alvin Dewey at a KBI HQ Christmas party in the 1970s. Alvin was protrayed by John Forsythe in the movie. I'll never forget that he was a very nice gentilman and someone asked him to "play the spoons". He did and I was impressed.
One day you're eating crackers on film, and then you're shooting your wife as she waits for you in the car after dinner.
Life comes at you fast...
Every time I see Wagner in something I always pop out with, "There's RJ, Natalie's murderer."
Speaking of detectives, the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" defames one of the most famous Texas rangers, Frank Hamer. He was the ranger sent to a Texas town to stop a riot. When he got off the train, the sheriff asked him if he was the only ranger coming. He replied, "One riot, one ranger" and then put down the riot.
I operated on the actor, Denver Pyle, who played that part in the "Bonnie and Clyde" movie. The depiction of Hamer, as played by Pyle, was a lie. A far better movie was done by Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson recently but it may have been TV only. Hamer did get revenge by killing them but the movie was another Hollywood bullshit production.
Thank you - this brought a big smile to my face. I remember watching re runs of Our Gang as an adolescent in the 70's. The humour really held up well.
Every time I see Wagner in something I always pop out with, "There's RJ, Natalie's murderer."
Shatner's wife also died in somewhat suspicious circumstances.
Truman made an anti-death penalty film, but I was rooting for the hangman. Dark movie
I had the same reaction to "Dead Man Walking." It was only the fact that he was facing execution that forced him to come to terms with what he'd done.
Yes, yes, it's true. We crackers are salty.
Yes, yes, it's true. We crackers are salty.
I remember Mickey (Blake), Darla, Spanky, Froggy, Alfalfa and Buckwheat. And his movies. And his decline.
@Michael K,
The movie with Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner was "The Highwaymen." It was distributed through Netflix but did have a limited play in select theaters.
Loved Blake in "Cold Blood" he was born to play that role. He was good as Jimmy Hoffa too. Otherwise, I can't place him in much. Didn't like Barretta. Thought it was cornball. But he was a good actor.
I wonder if Robert Black and Phil Spector ever shared the same prison cell.
Truman Capote was torn. He wanted Perry Smith to live, but he knew that Hickock and Smith needed to die for the the book to succeed, so he didn't do all he could to stop the execution. He may have felt guilty about that. His famous big party, the Black and White Ball, was intended to cheer up Katharine Graham, whose husband had killed himself, but Capote also needed the diversion after In Cold Blood.
Reading just now about Perry Smith's early life and Robert Blake's, it was a little hard to remember who I was reading about. Smith's childhood was, as one would expect, much worse than Blake's, but there was enough in Blake's own growing up for him to draw on to play Smith.
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