Robert Blake's Son Directs Murder Mystery at Restaurant Tied to Family Tragedy

Twenty-five years after Vitello's restaurant became associated with a profound family tragedy, Noah Blake, son of the late actor Robert Blake, has returned to the establishment to direct and star in a fictional murder mystery. Titled "A Killer Night in Studio City," the production, set in 1958, opened at the Italian restaurant on September 15 and is described by Blake as a step in his personal healing process.

"When I was first approached about this, of course, there was this little bit of... and then I was like, 'Wait, what am I doing? Of course, I should do this,'" Blake told Fox News Digital. "This is a chance for me to, not rewrite history, but to create a new page and to create a new connection and a new relationship for me with this place, for my name with this place, for my family with this place."

Blake expressed a desire to create positive associations with Vitello's for his own young son, stating, "I want him to be able to go there and enjoy Vitello's as he's grown up, God willing, as long as Vitello's is there. And I don't want him to ever feel funny. I want him to think about, 'Oh, Vitello's, that's the place where daddy did that fun show.' Not this other stuff. I'm not trying to minimize that tragedy, but it wasn't my tragedy, and it was a cross that I've had to bear and still will probably for the rest of my life."

Vitello's was the location where Robert Blake and his then-wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, had dinner shortly before Bakley was shot and killed in May 2001. Robert Blake was later acquitted of murder charges in 2005. A civil jury subsequently found him liable for Bakley's death, ordering him to pay $30 million to her family, a decision that led to bankruptcy proceedings. Robert Blake died in 2023 at the age of 89.

Rose Lenore, Bakley's daughter, has voiced her distress over Noah Blake's production at Vitello's. "I think him doing it at Vitello's is upsetting for me and anyone who loved Bonny," she told Fox News Digital. "And there were quite a few people who did. She left behind three children, plus me. She also left behind a sister, my aunt, who misses her dearly. And so, to have Robert Blake's son do any show at Vitello's, let alone a murder mystery show, I find that to be insensitive and upsetting."

Lenore further stated, "I'm not wishing any harm on Noah. I wish him well in his life and career. But it would be hard for me to stay silent on something like this. It would be hard for me to stay silent about my mother."

Responding to Lenore's criticism, Noah Blake issued a statement: "I have my own deeply personal reasons for doing this play. Vitello's was a place that I loved my entire life. Over time, that place became the physical embodiment for me of a much larger and devastating chapter of my life — one thing that I had nothing to do with, but whose consequences I have had to endure for years."

He added, "Choosing to walk back into that space now and create something uniquely mine — something lighthearted and entertaining that people are enjoying — is part of my own healing journey. It's about taking a place that had come to represent something painfully dark in my life and allowing it to represent something else. I'm not erasing history or rewriting it. I'm simply adding a new page to it, and I don't ask or expect anyone else to sign off on what I need to do to heal."

Blake also addressed Lenore directly, stating, "Rose is absolutely entitled to her feelings. I've been there for her many times over the years, and I care for her. She chose to express her feelings about this publicly, which certainly wouldn't have been my choice and still isn't. I would much rather have had a private conversation with her. I've reached out and asked her to call me so that we could talk about this, and that conversation has yet to happen. But that door remains open for her."

Returning to Vitello's has also prompted Blake to confront his complex relationship with his late father. "I don't think people really realize when something like that happens, how many lives are impacted in such a profound way," he explained. "I had to wrestle with who my father really was for everything I thought he was or knew or saw him as. Did he do this thing? Was he really capable of this? Was he that far gone? Was my father this monster?"

Blake described moments where his father could be loving and kind, contrasting with times he could be "an absolute f---ing monster." He noted the personal toll of the intense scrutiny surrounding his father's case, which led to his own struggles with anxiety and panic attacks.

"Before his death, Robert fiercely denied murdering Bakley," the article stated. "For Blake, returning to the restaurant carries a meaning beyond the fictional story he says he wants to tell. While he recognizes the connection others may make to his family's past, Blake stressed he does not want that history to define him.

"I live my life as me," he concluded.