B4
JOHN FORSYTHE, 92
‘Bachelor Father’ became scheming tycoon who ruled ‘Dynasty’
by Adam Bernstein
John Forsythe, 92, a debonair
actor who became one of the most recognizable faces and voices on television through such long-running series as “Dynasty” and “Bachelor Father” and the wildlife show “The World of Sur- vival,” died April 1 at his home in Santa Ynez, Calif. He had compli- cations from pneumonia. Mr. Forsythe was also an un- seen star on the detective drama “Charlie’s Angels.” He provided the wry baritone voice of million- aire Charles Townsend, who gives instructions via intercom to his three gorgeous police acad- emy “Angels.” An unflashy performer, he spent much of his early career portraying decent, often paternal characters on stage and screen. In 1953, he originated the Broadway role of the amiable Capt. Frisby in postwar Okinawa in “The Teahouse of the August Moon,” a John Patrick play that won a Pulitzer and Tony award. As the star of “Bachelor Father” from 1957 to 1962, he played Bentley Gregg, a Hollywood law- yer whose love life is complicated by his guardianship of his or- phaned teenage niece. For much of the 1950s, Mr. For- sythe proved a versatile Holly-
wood leading man. He showed skill in suspense (“The Glass Web” with Edward G. Robinson) and romantic comedy (“The Am- bassador’s Daughter” with Olivia de Havilland). He played crusad- ing journalists in several films, including the Robert Wise drama “The Captive City” and the com- edy “It Happens Every Thursday” with Loretta Young. Alfred Hitchcock cast him as
an artist in “The Trouble With Harry” (1955), one of many char- acters in the film about a corpse and the crew of New Englanders who keep reburying it. The Hitchcock film, his most prominent screen role, was not a popular success, and Mr. For- sythe later worked in memorable secondary parts. His best work was as Kansas
investigator Alvin Dewey in “In Cold Blood” (1967), an adapta- tion of Truman Capote’s book; as a CIA agent in Hitchcock’s “To- paz” (1969); and as an autocratic, corrupt judge in “. . . And Justice for All” (1979), in which his char- acter sparred with a lawyer played by Al Pacino. The last part was a particular
favorite of Mr. Forsythe’s, who said he found himself typecast as “the nice guy.” Critic Gary Ar- nold, writing in The Washington Post, called Mr. Forsythe “dis- armingly effective as a sleek
scoundrel” in the Pacino film. The role also led to one of the more defining characters of his career: Denver oil tycoon Blake Carrington on ABC’s “Dynasty,” a nighttime soap opera that aired from 1981 to 1989. As Carrington, Mr. Forsythe was usually distracted by the poi- sonous rivalry between his wife, played by Linda Evans, and his scheming ex, played by Joan Col- lins. The program sustained viewers’ attention despite plot contortions that Mr. Forsythe ac- knowledged were “so patently phony.” “My wife being kidnapped, then substituting another lady who looks surprisingly like my wife only I don’t know it,” he once said. “It defies description.” At one point, the show spent considerable time on the faraway country of Moldavia as a plot de- vice. “No one has been able to fig- ure out where Moldavia is,” Mr. Forsythe said. “We think some- where east of Peoria.” John Lincoln Freund was born
Jan. 29, 1918, in Penns Grove, N.J., and raised in New York, where his father was a stockbro- ker. He left the University of North Carolina during his junior year to became a public-address an- nouncer for the Brooklyn Dodg- ers at Ebbets Field. His father
knew the team’s general manag- er, and Mr. Forsythe won a job announcing promotional events that sportscaster Red Barber de- clined — “Jesse Owens racing a thoroughbred horse around the ballpark and ‘Babe’ Didrikson Za- harias hitting golf balls into a net in center field.” He decided to seek work as a
radio actor “because baseball is a kind of seasonal job, and I loved to eat during the wintertime.” He won roles on radio soaps and worked his way from chil- dren’s theater to Broadway. With his dark, wavy hair and middle- American good looks, he was signed to a contract by Warner Bros. film studios and appeared in two 1943 war pictures, “North- ern Pursuit” with Errol Flynn and “Destination Tokyo” with Cary Grant. His film career was put on hold when he enlisted in the Army Air Forces. His first assignment was to appear on Broadway in Moss Hart’s “Winged Victory” (1943), a show starring servicemen enter- tainers and designed to sell war bonds. After the war, he appeared on early television anthology pro- grams and replaced Henry Fonda in the title role of “Mister Rob- erts” on Broadway. Mr. Forsythe also attended the Actors Studio workshop, where his clean-cut
looks made him stand out. “My father always told me, if you wanted to be taken for a gen- tleman, first you had to look like a gentleman,” he told the Los An- geles Times. “Brando and Mont- gomery Clift and all those were in torn T-shirts, and I had my button-down collars. They called me the Brooks Brothers Bohemi- an.”
On television, Mr. Forsythe ex- celled as the dapper star of “Bachelor Father.” The show also made him an extremely wealthy man because he was paid partly in stock from the production company, MCA. The money helped him indulge an interest in raising thoroughbred horses. After “Bachelor Father,” he
played the lead in other short- lived programs (“The John For- sythe Show,” “To Rome With Love”) before serving as narrator of “The World of Survival” from 1971 to 1977.He then won the role of the silver-haired patriarch on “Dynasty” when George Peppard, who was initially cast as Blake Carrington, left amid personality clashes.
Although he had a few other small roles, Mr. Forsythe mostly devoted his time to horse racing and doing anti-smoking promo- tional work for the American Cancer Society. His first marriage, to Parker
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3April 2010
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UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
ALL SOULS CHURCH, UNITARIAN
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WALLY WONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Forsythe was also the voice of Charlie in “Charlie’s Angels.”
on washingtonpost.com
For photos from the career of actor John Forsythe, who often played paternal characters on stage and screen, visit
washingtonpost.com.
McCormick, ended in divorce. His second wife, Julie Warren, an actress he married in 1943, died in 1994. Survivors include his third wife, Nicole Carter of Santa Ynez; a son from his first marriage, Dall Forsythe, former New York State budget director; two daughters from his second marriage, Page Courtemanche and Brooke For- sythe; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
bernsteina@washpost.com
R
KLMNO
OBITUARIES
SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 2010
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