Actor Blake hires attorney in wake of wife's death

Robert Blake departs his home on Saturday

Police are calling shooting death a homicide

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Actor Robert Blake has retained a lawyer as Los Angeles police searched his home in the investigation of the shooting death of his wife.

The death of Blake's wife, Bonnie, is being investigated as a homicide, police said. She was found Friday night shot dead in the front seat of her husband's car.

Police said Saturday that Blake was being questioned, but the actor was not a suspect.

Blake's lawyer, Harland Braun, said his client had left his wife Friday night waiting in his car while he returned to a nearby Los Angeles-area restaurant to retrieve his gun, which he had dropped.

Braun said Blake's wife believed someone had been stalking her and had asked the actor to carry the weapon, which is registered to him.

Paramedics were unable to revive Bonnie Blake and she was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital

"There is no weapon that has been recovered at this point, and there are no primary suspects," said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Don Hartwell.

Braun said Mrs. Blake had an "interesting past" that "seems to have caught up with her." The lawyer said the actor had only married his wife because she became pregnant with his child.

Blake, 67, began his career as a child actor in the "Our Gang" comedies of the 1930s and '40s. His career took off with "In Cold Blood," a 1967 film account of the Clutter family killings in Kansas. He later starred in the television series "Baretta."

Actor appeared flustered, witness says

After Blake returned to the restaurant, Vitello's, co-owner Joe Restivo told CNN that the actor appeared flustered and asked for two glasses of water, then drank them and left. It did not appear that Blake retrieved anything, he said.

Blake told police that after he discovered his wounded wife, he walked to the house of Sean Stanek, across the street from the restaurant parking lot. Stanek, a film director, said he heard a knock on his door around 9:50 p.m. When he answered the door, he said Blake told him his wife had been hurt. Stanek said he grabbed a phone, called 911, and both men ran across the street.

Stanek said when they got to the car, Blake's wife was still alive, but there was blood everywhere. He said paramedics arrived almost immediately.

CPR was administered at the scene; but she was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

Blake's wife was found shot dead outside this restaurant in Los Angeles Friday night

One of Vitello's owners, Steve Restivo, said Blake has been a regular at the restaurant for 20 years -- often eating there two times per week - sometimes with his wife, sometimes with friends.

Blake, a native of Nutley, New Jersey, was born Mickey Gubitosi. In 1940, he took the stage name Bobby Blake and began playing child roles in a wide range of films.

Blake continued to use his real name as the name of his character in the "Our Gang" comedy series.

During talk show appearances in the 1970s, Blake discussed his anger over his treatment by his family and the studio as a child and his bouts with drug abuse.

Wife of actor Robert Blake shot dead in Los Angeles
May 5, 2001

E! Online - Credits - Robert Blake
The Los Angeles Police Department
Harland W. Braun Professional Corporation
FindLaw: Searches and Seizures Pursuant to Warrant

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