Robert Blake died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 89.
The "Baretta" star died from heart disease, according to a statement released by his niece, Noreen Austin.
"He died at home with family around him peacefully, long-term heart issues," Austin told Fox News Digital. "He spent the last few years listening to jazz music and playing his guitar and watching classic movies."
Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the defendant in a real-life murder story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Blake went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, who died outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001.
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In a 2002 interview with the Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: "It hurt because America is the only family I had."
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He was adamant that he had not killed his wife, and a jury ultimately acquitted him.
Months after he was acquitted, a civil jury found him liable for her death and ordered Blake to pay Bakley's family $30 million for her wrongful death, a judgment that sent him into bankruptcy.
As a youngster, he starred in the "Our Gang" comedies and acted in a movie classic, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood."
In 1975 to 1978, he starred in the TV cop series "Baretta."
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Baretta, an unconventional detective, used the catchphrase, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
Fox News Digital's Larry Fink and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
