Bonny Lee Bakley TV Movie in the Works

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/22/2002 at 12:10 PM EDT

Bonny Lee Bakley is on her way to TV screens around the country. Variety reports that "To Live and Die in Los Angeles," an upcoming biography about the slain wife of actor Robert Blake, written by reporter Dennis McDougal, is being developed by producers Mark Sennet, Alan Jacobs and Mark Hayman. One of Sennet's credits is the CBS biopic "Martin and Lewis," about Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, that is currently in the works. McDougal's book is scheduled to be published this summer and tracks detective Robert Ito's investigation of Bakley's killing, as well as her rocky relationship with her husband, Robert Blake, says the trade paper. With a reputation as a grifter who preyed on celebrities, Bakley, 44, married Blake after becoming pregnant with his child, Rose, who is now 2. Blake, 68, former star of the "Baretta" TV series, is charged with shooting Bakley last May in a car outside a restaurant where the couple had just dined. He has pleaded innocent but remains in L.A. County Jail, where he is being held without bail. Earlier this month, Variety had reported that the race to develop a Blake-Bakley TV movie had begun with Bakley's best friend, Christina Scheier, who was working with a production company to turn her story into a book and companion TV movie.