Tony Baretta was often seen with a cigarette in his mouth or above his ear like a pencil, but I don't recall him ever actually smoking one on camera. Anyone ever seen him actually light one up?
"Put down that chainsaw and listen to me!"--W.A. Yankovic
Hi hollandscomet!! :o)
Although Robert Blake did smoke in other movies, I don't recall the character of Baretta ever lighting that cigarette!! I'm no expert though, just a huge fan of the show, so I could be wrong :o)
I remember when Robert Blake was a regular guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the first thing he would often do was open up Johnny's cigarette box to grab an unlit one to hold. :o) And when he was on Larry King Live earlier this year, he was holding one again!! It's definitely become his trademark!! :o)
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I guess it was his way of quitting, like Kojak with the lollipops.
Once on "Baretta" he grabbed a cig from a kid and said "I don't smoke 'em, I only keep 'em in my mouth."
Today, I watched the 1974 Robert Blake Elliott Gould flick Busting. (Realized I'd seen it before, probably within the last year, but still worth another watch).
Robert's character did the cigarette thing there, too, and there was otherwise a "Baretta" feel to the character, so either the character of Tony Baretta may have been loosely based on Blake's character in the movie, and/or both were based on Robert Blake's mannerisms.
As a side note; I've always been totally grossed out by smoking, and have always thought a cigarette hanging of someone's mouth looks a bit goofy, if not stupid, but Robert Blake totally rocked the cigarette thing.
What are you looking under here for?
He explained on The Tonight Show that having an unlit cigarette in his mouth or hand was how he coped with quitting smoking.
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