Remembering the life and cons of Bonny Lee Bakley.
Tori Telfer, author of Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion joins us to talk about female con artists. Today, we’re focusing on one of the women in her book—Bonny Lee Bakley, the wife of Hollywood actor Robert Blake.
Did you know Bonny Lee Bakley lived the life of a grifter?
If you watched cable news in 2001, you probably heard the name Bonny Lee Bakley. She’s best known as the wife of Hollywood actor Robert Blake. Robert Blake is famous for his role in the 1967 film, In Cold Blood. In the movies, he played a killer. But today, in real life, he’s best remembered for the murder of his wife Bonny Lee.
So who was Bonny Lee Bakley? Everyone remembers her death. But in life, it turns out she had a checkered past. You see, Robert Blake was her tenth husband, that we know of. I’m sure there were many more.
She allegedly scammed men out of their fortune, ran a mail-ordered porn business, and stalked celebrities like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.
You always hear about her death but rarely her scams.
I wanted to learn more, so I called Tori Telfer, author of the Book Confident Women.
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