A witness in Robert Blake's trial said the actor behaved superficially the night his wife was shot to death outside a California restaurant.

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Blake, 71, is on trial in Van Nuys for murder in the shooting death of Bonny Lee Bakley, 44, his wife of six months and mother of his youngest child, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Bakley was shot in Blake's car on May 4, 2001, near a restaurant where the couple had dined.

The witness, Mary Beth Rennie, testified she was walking with a friend that night when she saw Blake seated on a curb and wailing. Other witnesses have given similar testimony.

"It didn't seem genuine or real," Rennie testified. "It was frantic but something didn't feel right."

Besides murder, Blake also is charged with soliciting, unsuccessfully, two Hollywood stuntmen to kill Bakley.

The Emmy Award-winning actor, best known for the 1970s television series "Baretta," faces life in prison if convicted.