Actor Robert Blake has died, whose greatest claim to fame was the unsolved murder of his wife in 2011 for which he was held to blame in a civil suit though the criminal trial fell to bits.
He was born 18 September 1933 8.30am Nutley, New Jersey, and was a child actor with song-and-dance-act parents and a train-wreck childhood, being abused by a violent stepfather. His adult life continued on a self-destruct trend with intermittent bouts of violence, alcohol and drug problems, interspersed with work.
His second wife Bonny Lee Bakley, 7 June 1956 10.40pm Morristown, New Jersey, was a fantasist, grifter and groupie who claimed to have been married nine times, all with the aim of becoming rich and famous. Blake became her 10th husband in November 2000 after a paternity test proved her recent pregnancy was his and not Christian Brando’s. In May of the following year she was shot in the car after an evening out when Blake claimed he had returned to the restaurant. He was charged with her murder along with two co-conspirators whom he allegedly had asked to kill his wife but all the evidence was circumstantial and he was found not guilty. Though a later civil suit did find him responsible for her wrongful death.
Hollywood melodrama at its tawdriest. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is dedicated to Blake. His later life dealing with the fallout from his wife’s murder mirrors Brad Pitt’s character Cliff Booth who is also accused of murdering his wife.
Both Blake and Bonny Lee had freedom-loving Uranus in the 7th which suggests an erratic approach to one-to-one commitment. He also had a controlling Pluto in his 10th; and a 4th house Saturn square Mars in Scorpio – so his childhood cruelty would linger in its effects. His Virgo Sun was in his 12th.
Bonny Lee had an entertaining, playgirl Gemini Sun, Moon in her performing 5th house; with a super-confident and subtly manipulative 8th house Jupiter Pluto in Leo square opposition Mars square a 10th house Saturn. She was raised by a grandmother which makes sense of the 8th house, in a childhood that was no more nurturing than Blake’s – scary, trapped and chilly. Money was what she sought in compensation for what she had suffered.
Her Jupiter Pluto was conjunct Blake’s South Node in Leo; her Midheaven was conjunct his financial 2nd house Mars; her Uranus was conjunct his 10th house Pluto and her Neptune opposed his Uranus – money was the root of most of the woes, though there was also a fight for control. It was a match designed to ratchet up the level of nervous tension to unbearable levels.
Their relationship chart had a controlling/possessive composite Sun Pluto conjunction which was on one leg of a yod sextile Uranus and inconjunct Mars (Saturn). [A touch like the Lineker/BBC relationship – below). Destined to blow a fuse at some point. Tr Neptune was opposing their composite Sun Pluto when she died loosening their bond.
Mars is in Gemini right now and also in the coming new year’s solar return on the 20/03. This will be a year of strong verbal battles, online, on TV and everywhere else. I feel this is just the beginning.
Thank you!