John Forsythe

John Forsythe (January 29, 1918 – April 1, 2010) was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning three decades, as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father (1957–1962); as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the 1970s crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976–1981), and as ruthless and beloved patriarch Blake Carrington on the 1980s soap opera Dynasty (1981–1989). He hosted World of Survival during the 1970s. Forsythe appeared each year to read children's fiction during the annual Christmas program near his home at the rural resort community of Solvang, California, north of Los Angeles.
Forsythe, oldest of three children, was born Jacob Lincoln Freund in Penns Grove, New Jersey, the son of Blanche Materson (née Blohm) and Samuel Jeremiah Freund, who was a stockbroker.
In 1936 at the age of eighteen, he took a job as the public address announcer for Brooklyn Dodgers games at Ebbets Field, confirming a childhood love of baseball.
Despite showing initial reluctance, Forsythe began an acting career at the suggestion of his father. He met actress Parker McCormick (December 1918 – July 1980) and the couple married in 1939; they had a son, Dall (born in 1943), but soon divorced.

As a bit player for Warner Brothers, Forsythe appeared in small parts. As a result he was given a small role in Destination Tokyo (1943). Leaving his movie career for service in World War II, he appeared in the U.S. Army Air Forces play and film Winged Victory, then worked with injured soldiers who had developed speech problems.

Also in 1943, Forsythe met Julie Warren, initially a theatre companion but later a successful actress in her own right, landing a role on Broadway in Around the World. Warren became Forsythe's second wife and in the early 1950s the marriage produced two daughters – Page and Brooke.

In 1947, Forsythe joined the initial class of the soon-to-be prestigious Actors Studio, where he met other promising young actors including Marlon Brando and Julie Harris. During this time he appeared on Broadway in Mister Roberts and The Teahouse of the August Moon.

In 1955, Alfred Hitchcock cast Forsythe in the movie The Trouble with Harry, with Shirley MacLaine in her first movie appearance. The film was unsuccessful at the box office, and Forsythe found high profile movie work harder to find.
Throughout the 1950s, Forsythe successfully appeared in the new medium and regularly on all the networks, especially as a guest star. For example, during this period, Forsythe notably appeared on the popular anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents in an engaging episode entitled "Premonition" opposite then up-and-coming Cloris Leachman.

Bachelor Father
In 1957, he took a leading role in the situation comedy Bachelor Father for CBS as Bentley Gregg, a playboy lawyer who has to become a father to his niece Kelly (played by Noreen Corcoran), upon the death of her biological parents. The show was an immediate ratings hit and moved to NBC the following season and to ABC in the fall of 1961.

On various episodes Forsythe worked with such up-and-coming actresses as Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Eden, Donna Douglas, Sally Kellerman, Sue Ane Langdon, and Linda Evans (who immediately formed a crush on the much older actor). During the 1961 season, Bachelor Father moved to ABC, but was cancelled that season because of declining ratings.

After Bachelor Father
In the early 1960s, Forsythe returned to acting in movies including Kitten with a Whip (1964) and In Cold Blood (1967). He also attempted two new television programs: The John Forsythe Show on NBC with Guy Marks, Elsa Lanchester, Ann B. Davis, Peggy Lipton, and Forsythe's two young daughters, Page and Brooke. (1965–1966) and To Rome with Love on CBS (1969–1971) with co-star Walter Brennan. Between 1971 and 1977, Forsythe served as narrator on the syndicated nature series, The World of Survival. He was also the announcer for Michelob beer commercials from the 70s through about 1985, notably during the "Weekends were made for Michelob" era.

Charlie's Angels
Forsythe began a 13-year association with Aaron Spelling in 1976, cast in the role of a mysterious unseen millionaire and private investigator Charles Townsend in the crime drama Charlie's Angels (1976–1981). Townsend's voice is heard over a speaker phone, instructing the eponymous Angels of their mission for the episode. Charlie's Angels was a huge success, much as Bachelor Father had been before, and was exported to over 90 countries. Forsythe quickly became the highest paid actor on television.

Post-1990s work and life
On August 15, 1994, Forsythe's wife of 51 years, the former Julie Warren, died aged 74 in a hospital after he made the difficult decision to turn off her life-support system. She had been in a coma following severe breathing difficulties. In 2002, Forsythe married businesswoman Nicole Carter, twenty-two years his junior. Forsythe has one son, two daughters, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren from his previous marriages.

Forsythe reprised his role as Charlie for the film version of Charlie's Angels (2000) and its sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), but then retired from acting. Besides spending time with his family, he enjoyed ownership of an art gallery.

In 2005 actor Bartholomew John portrayed Forsythe in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of Dynasty.

On May 2, 2006, Forsythe appeared with Dynasty co-stars Linda Evans, Joan Collins, Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson and Catherine Oxenberg in Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar. The one-hour reunion special of the former ABC series aired on CBS.

It was announced on October 13, 2006 that Forsythe was being treated for colorectal cancer. He was discharged from the hospital after one month.

Forsythe died on April 1, 2010 from pneumonia in Santa Ynez, California. He was 92 years old.