Career As An Adult
In 1950, Blake joined the Army. After returning to Southern California, he entered Jeff Corey's acting class and began working on improving both his personal and professional lives. He eventually became a seasoned Hollywood actor, playing notable dramatic roles in movies and on television. In 1956, he was billed as Robert Blake for the first time.
In 1959, he turned down the role of Little Joe Cartwright, a character ultimately portrayed by Michael Landon, in NBC's western television series Bonanza. Blake did appear that year as Tobe Hackett in the episode "Trade Me Deadly" of the syndicated western series 26 Men, which dramatized true stories of the Arizona Rangers. Blake also appeared twice as "Alfredo" in the syndicated western The Cisco Kid and starred in "The White Hat" episode of Men of Annapolis, another syndicated series. Blake appeared in various roles in the series Have Gun Will Travel and also guest starred on John Payne's NBC western The Restless Gun.
Blake performed in numerous motion pictures as an adult, including the starring role in The Purple Gang (1960), a gangster movie, and featured roles in Pork Chop Hill in 1959 and, as one of four US soldiers participating in a gang rape in occupied Germany, in Town Without Pity in 1961. He was also in Ensign Pulver (1964), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and other films. In 1967, he played real-life murderer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood; Richard Brooks directed, adapting Truman Capote's non-fiction book for the film.
Blake played an Indian fugitive in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969), a TV movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men (1981), and a motorcycle highway patrolman in Electra Glide in Blue (1973). He played a small-town stock car driver with ambitions to join the NASCAR circuit in Corky which MGM produced in 1972. The film featured real NASCAR drivers, including Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.
Blake may be best known for his Emmy Award-winning role of Tony Baretta in the popular television series Baretta (1975 to 1978), playing an undercover police detective who specialized in disguises. The show's trademarks included Baretta's pet cockatoo "Fred," his signature phrases — notably "That's the name of that tune" and "You can take that to the bank" — and a memorable theme song, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow," written by Dave Grusin and Morgan Ames and performed by Sammy Davis, Jr.
After Baretta ended, NBC offered to produce several pilot episodes of a proposed series called Joe Dancer, in which Blake would play the eponymous role of a hard-boiled private detective. In addition to starring, Blake also was credited as the executive producer and creator. Four episodes aired to poor reviews in 1981 and 1983, and the series never ultimately sold.
He continued to act through the 1980s and 1990s, mostly in television, in such roles as Jimmy Hoffa in the miniseries Blood Feud (1983) and as John List in the murder drama Judgment Day: The John List Story (1993), which earned him a third Emmy nomination. He also had character parts in the theatrical movies Money Train (1995) and Lost Highway (1997). In addition, Blake starred in the television series Hell Town, playing a priest working in a tough neighborhood.
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