‘Dynasty’ tycoon Forsythe, 92, dies

April 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES

John Forsythe, the suave actor with the silvery hair and smooth voice who was familiar to millions of TV viewers for starring roles in the popular television series “Bachelor Father,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Dynasty,” died Thursday. He was 92.

Forsythe, who had heart bypass surgery in 1979 and was hospitalized for colon cancer in September 2006, died at his home in Santa Ynez from complications of pneumonia, according to publicist Harlan Boll.

Skilled at 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.

As the man whom Forsythe once described as “ruthless, powerful, cruel, selfish, kind, loving, tender, passionate,” Carrington inspired catfights between his ex-wife (Joan Collins) and melancholy second wife (Linda Evans), all the while fending off nonstop crises set off by his business, his gay son and his long-lost daughter. He was always impeccably dressed and so dashing that he inspired the men’s cologne dubbed Carrington.

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 Los Angeles 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.”

“Dynasty” ended in 1989 after more than eight years on the air. Although he had a long and respectable career in Hollywood, Forsythe said he “never had an illusions about being an (Laurence) Olivier.”

“I’ve had an interesting life for a guy who stumbled into the whole acting business,” Forsythe told The Times in 1992.

For many years, Forsythe was deeply involved in horse racing and owned and bred horses at his ranch north of Santa Barbara. He was the national spokesman for the Breeders Cup and was on the board at Hollywood Park for several years.

Forsythe’s wife Julie died in 1994 after more than 50 years of marriage. In 2002, Forsythe married Nicole Carter, who survives him as do his son, Dall, his daughters, Page Courtemanche and Brooke Forsythe; as well as six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.