BURBANK, Calif. — Jurors gasped, the judge made awkward jokes, and Robert Blake apologized after barking orders at court personnel during his first day on the stand Thursday in his wrongful death civil trial.

And that was just the first 15 minutes.

"You have a very elaborate imagination, sir!" Blake snapped at civil attorney Eric Dubin, when the lawyer suggested Blake expected special treatment from the court.

Miffed by the accusation, Blake motioned to the court reporter, repeatedly ordering her to read back any testimony in which he asked for special treatment. The reporter kept typing and did not respond.

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"All right. So, you don't want any special treatment?" Superior Court Judge David Schacter joked, a segue for Dubin to continue his questions.

The cantankerous 72-year-old actor, who did not take the stand in his criminal trial, walked up to the witness box Thursday morning with an easy smile, giving the court reporter both his birth name, Michael James Gubitosi, and his stage name, Robert Blake, in a quiet, languorous voice.

But he was baited with the first question.

"How many times would you say you lied under oath since your wife was murdered on May 4, 2001?" Dubin asked.

Blake squinted his eyes, politely asked Dubin to repeat the question, and responded in a genteel tone: "I couldn't make any estimation because I haven't lied under oath."

His tone quickly escalated to indignation when Dubin pointed out inconsistencies among Blake's 2001 deposition, his interviews with detectives, and his testimony on the stand.

"Regardless," Dubin said, "isn't it true..."

"No!" Blake interrupted angrily. "Not 'regardless' ... let's get to the bottom of [it]."

An audible "oooh," and nervous giggles emanated from the jury box.

Robert Blake in TV's "Baretta."

The former "Baretta" star was acquitted in March of the murder of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, who was shot to death by an unidentified assailant in 2001 as she sat in the passenger seat of Blake's sports car.

He is now being sued for her wrongful death by Bakley's four children, who are asking for unspecified monetary damages.

"How many times would you say you changed your story on the night your wife was murdered?" Dubin continued over the objections of Blake's attorney, Peter Ezzell.

"Let me answer that, boss," Blake told Ezzell.

"I think I'm kind of a little bit in my own 'Rashomon,' but I'm going to get it done," the actor said, referring the classic 1950 Japanese court drama in which a murder is recounted from several disparate perspectives. "If you ask me a question that may sound simple to the whole world about how many versions there are about this, I'd have to say there are versions — because I'm 72 years old, I'm not a machine and I'm dyslexic."

Ezzell stood by the actor at one point and read to him from a document during direct questioning by Dubin, because Blake said he was too dyslexic to read it himself.

He cut his lawyer off, interjecting personal reactions, until Ezzell joked to the judge, "Would the court instruct that I'm the boss?"

Antics on the stand

Jurors appeared riveted Thursday, and Blake took leeway on the stand where he could: He was granted a private moment to talk to his attorney in the middle of questioning, he often interjected his own objections to Dubin's questions or repeated "sustained" after the judge ruled on official objections, and he grunted loudly in answer at one point, explaining that he was rising to the level of Dubin's dramatics.

"Are you having fun?" Dubin replied, adding that Bakley's son and daughter, sitting at the plaintiff's table, had lost their mother.

"I beg your pardon?" Blake said sternly.

"What's the next question?" the judge cut in.

"He just asked me if I'm having fun. I want him admonished!" Blake said.

"Stop, stop," Schacter said. But the actor did not let up.

"I want to answer the 'Am I having any fun' question," Blake continued.

"Remember what I told you," the judge said. "Calm down. Next question."

At one point, when Dubin asked a false rhetorical question, Blake accused him of being a liar.

"He's lying, he's lying," Blake told the judge.

"That's just lawyer talk," Schacter joked.

"He's lying. He gets to do that?" Blake said. "I thought only cops could do that."

After the lunch recess, it was the actor who posed the first question, asking the judge if he could address his supposed inconsistent statements to police, and explaining that the transcription of one of his recorded interviews with detectives was inaccurate.

"Here is a more accurate transcription," Blake said, pulling out papers from his inside breast pocket. "And we also have the tape."

Schacter said it could be addressed when it was his attorney's turn to question him.

While his antics were often distracting, Blake did address some of the damaging testimony of previous witnesses.

For instance, he denied the accusations of Cody Blackwell, a former personal assistant who told jurors she was coerced into a plot to kidnap baby Rosie, the infant daughter he shared with Bakley.

Blake said Blackwell had "8,000 reasons" to lie about him, referring the amount of money she received when she sold her story to the National Enquirer.

"So, that was a lie?" Dubin asked.

"You'll have to discuss that with her, she's your witness," Blake said.

"Okay, but she's your ex-employee," Dubin said.

"So what?" Blake snapped.

He conceded to some degree on Thursday that he was involved in a plan to get Bakley arrested, by luring her to California with the baby, and then alerting her probation officer in Arkansas that she was in violation.

Bakley, a mail-order porn entrepreneur, was not allowed to leave her home state because she was on probation for identity fraud and other charges. Blake admits he did not love Bakley but married her because he wanted to guard Rosie's care.

"Was it your understanding that by doing what you were doing, Bonny was facing prison?" Dubin asked.

"No," Blake said.

He told jurors he never thought she would face jail time, because he believed she was also in a sexual relationship with her probation officer.

"Rosie's health and safety and well-being came first, if the outside chance was that she had to do 6 months in jail — then so be it," Blake said. "I didn't think that was going to happen, but it certainly wouldn't have been the end of the world."

Blake will return to the stand on Monday when court resumes, and is expected to continue in several more days of testimony.

Rosie, now 5, is being raised by Blake's grown daughter from a previous marriage, who has legally adopted the child with her husband.