>Robert Blake

SAVING FACE

He built his reputation playing tough guys—a psychotic killer in the 1967 film In Cold Blood, a streetwise detective in the '70s ABC series Baretta and a husband who murders his family in the 1993 CBS movie Judgment Day: The John List Story. But Robert Blake, 61, gives what may be his most tightly wound performance as the head of the New York transit authority in Money Train. The reason? Two years ago Blake had a face-lift. And unlike some actors he's not afraid to talk about it—in his inimitable fashion.

Why did you have the surgery?

I've always been physically active. Other guys lay around the house and become like a piece of Italian sausage. Then they get their faces fixed and they look great. That ain't fair, so I had to go catch up. Besides, all of the guys I went to acting class with who became movie stars look the same way they did back in acting class, except they have mouths like lizards. They all have permanent smiles. They look like they could be my sons So I went and did it Now I look like them.

How did your friends react?

Nobody even knew I had it done. I told the doc, "If you make me look like a lizard, like everybody else, I'm going to kill you. All I want is to look a little more rested, to take a little of the mileage off."

Was it painful?

It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. The doctors lie to you and say it's a piece of cake, but it ain't. They cut into your scalp, then down behind and below your ears. Then they pull the hell out of your skin. I was out of commission for months. I couldn't even take dope [for the pain] since I'm an addict.

Do you regret having it done?

Yes! It sucks, what's happening to our society. Every chick's got a chest full of Styrofoam, and we all encourage each other to do it. I survived my whole life by listening to my own drummer. Then all of the sudden I said, "Gee whiz, all the stars my age look like they belong on The Donna Reed Show, so I'll do it too." I'm sorry I gave in to that s—t.