Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.
Robert Blake was born Michael James Gubitosi on September 18, 1933.
As an actor, he accumulated 162 credits between 1939, when he started as a 6-year-old child actor in The Little Rascals until his last role in Lost Highway in 1997.
There woulda been a lot more but he quit acting for eight years in between.
Red Ryder started out as a cowboys and Indians comic strip in newspapers in 1938, and it was quite popular.
So popular, Red Ryder comic books, Red Ryder bikes, and Red Ryder bb guns followed.
Then, in 1940, came the Red Ryder movie The Adventures of Red Ryder. Which led to a series of Red Ryder films from 1944 until 1950.
Robert Blake, billed as Bobby Blake, played Red Ryder’s sidekick – an Indian kid named Little Beaver.
Bobby Blake played Little Beaver in 17 episodes. Which led to dozens on appearances in cowboy shows after Red Ryder ended.
Then came movies – Town Without Pity in 1961, PT 109 in 1963, and then came his breakthrough role as killer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood in 1967. In 1973 he played a motorcycle cop in Electra Glide in Blue which led to his starring role from 1975 through 1978 in the TV series Baretta.
Robert Blake starred as undercover detective Tony Baretta in all 82 episodes. The show aired on Thursday nights and I bet you I saw every one.
The character Anthony Vincenzo “Tony” Baretta, Badge #609, worked out of the 53rd Precinct in an unnamed, fictional city. But it sure looked like New York to me.
He lived in the run-down King Edward Hotel, in Apartment 2C, with his Triton cockatoo named Fred.
He was a master of disguise while on the job. And when not working, he wore a short-sleeved sweatshirt, casual slacks, a brown suede jacket, and a newsboy cap.
Detective Baretta usually held an unlit cigarette in his mouth or behind his ear. He had several catchphrases – one of which survives to this day: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.”
He drove a rusted-out 1966, mist blue, Chevy Impala that he nicknamed “The Blue Ghost” and he spent a lot of time at a pool hall.
The show was a huge hit. It had been revised as a milder version of ABC’s 1974 series Toma, starring Tony Musante. Toma was based on a real-life New Jersey cop. When Tony Musante left the series after its first season, producers revamped the concept and came up with Baretta.
Sammy Davis, Jr. belted it out the show’s theme song “Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow.”
Here’s a six-minute video about the TV show.
So that’s it for Robert Blake: Actor. Tomorrow we get into Robert Blake: Accused Murderer.
I’m America’s Best Crime Writer and I approve this message.
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