Wife of actor Robert Blake shot dead in Los Angeles

Robert Blake

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The wife of actor Robert Blake was found shot dead in the front seat of her husband's car outside a Los Angeles restaurant, police said Saturday.

Police were questioning the actor Saturday. He was not in custody.

Blake told police he and his wife, Bonnie, left a Los Angeles restaurant at 9:40 p.m. Friday in Studio City, northwest of Hollywood. He said they had gotten into their car when he realized he had left something in the restaurant, LAPD spokesman Guillermo Campos said.

Blake said he returned to the restaurant, retrieved the item, and, when he got back to the car, discovered that his wife had been shot once in the head, Campos said.

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

Blake walked to a nearby house, where he called paramedics. They were unable to revive the woman, and she was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

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," the 1967 film account of the Clutter family killings in Kansas. He later starred in the television series "Baretta."

The Nutley, New Jersey, native was born Mickey Gubitosi. In 1940, he took the stage name Bobby Blake and began playing child roles in a wide range of films. But he continued to use the name Mickey Gubitosi in the "Our Gang" series for another three years.

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.

E! Online - Credits - Robert Blake

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