Baretta

By Patrick Mondout

Before actor Robert Blake became notorious as the accused killer of his wife, he was Detective Tony Baretta, one of a new breed of unconventional television detectives in the Super70s. He was a t-shirt and blue-jean wearing single detective who lived in a run-down old hotel and worked cases without a partner.

A street-wise orphaned descendent of Italian immigrants, Baretta was able to go undercover in the underworld unnoticed. This was one hip cop whose pet bird (a Cockatoo named Fred) made him a favorite with a younger audience.

$1000 a Week - For a Bird?

Fred, Baretta's Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo, made $1,000-a-week for its trainer, Ray Berwick. Ray purchased the Chinese-speaking bird from Hong Kong and had to teach it English. Berwick worked on the 1962 hit Birdman of Alcatraz starring Burt Lancaster and also worked with thousands of birds for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic The Birds. Ray Berwick died of a heart attack on July 2, 2024 at age 75.

Partial Spin-Off

Baretta actually owes it existence to an overworked actor on another series. Actor Tony Musante starred as Detective David Toma on ABC's Toma during the 1973-74 season. He left the show after the first season saying that he did not like the pressures of shooting a weekly show.

ABC was pleased with the moderately successful first-year show and brought in Robert Blake to take over the lead role. The show's producers also changed the location from New York to California. They eventually decided they had made enough changes to the show to call it something different and thus was born Baretta.

Our Gang

Actor Robert Blake (real name: Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi) started out as a child actor in the "Oug Gang" series of the late 1930s and 40s but got the part of a lifetime when he played real-life murderer Perry Smith in the film adaptation of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood in 1967.

Episode List

Here is a complete list of the four seasons of Baretta:

Share Your Memories In Our Forums!

Check out our Baretta forum! Do you have a favorite episode of the show? What do you remember about the series? Do you have any questions about it or its stars? Now you can post comments and questions directly to our TV forums! Click here to see what other Baretta viewers have said or to post your own comments about the show!

		Your Memories Shared!

The third installment of the second season titled "On the Road" guest starred Mackenzie Phillips, Strother Martin and Garey Busey. This episode was unique in that it strayed from the typical Baretta storyline as our hero is taken hostage by two cop killing drifters. Phillips plays a runaway purse snatcher that gets snared into the plot. The acting and tension is intense by all. Baretta was the best of the 70s cop shows. Though it's dated with its 70s overtones, the characters are timeless and would hold up even in a 21st century show just fine. My best to Robert Blake. --Moxxxxxxy

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