John Forsythe, a suave actor with the silvery hair and a mellifluous voice, was familiar to millions of TV viewers for starring roles in the popular television series "Bachelor Father," "Charlie's Angels" and "Dynasty."
Skilled at both comedy and drama, the actor began his long career in acting on Broadway, where he stepped in for Henry Fonda in "Mister Roberts" and later originated the lead role in the hit comedy "Teahouse of the August Moon." He also appeared in many movies, including Alfred Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry" and "Topaz."
But he was best known for three roles: Bentley Gregg, a bachelor uncle who finds his social life curtailed by the arrival of a young niece put into his care; the unseen Charlie, who gives three sexy young detectives their assignments in ABC's "Charlie's Angels"; and, most notably, Blake Carrington, the oil tycoon around whom life revolves in one of TV's most successful prime-time soap operas, "Dynasty." More than the others, Carrington was his signature role.
The part came to Forsythe partly because he had starred against his good-TV-dad type as a sadistic judge in Norman Jewison's "... And Justice for All," which starred Al Pacino.
"To be seen in so unredeemable a part was a revelation to some people," Forsythe told The Times in 1980. "Had I not played the evil Judge Fleming, I don't think they would have thought of me for this tycoon, who can be very rough on occasion."
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