Actors - John Forsythe

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	Actors - John Forsythe

John Forsythe (born on January 29, 1918), is an American stage, television and character actor who starred in three television series that spanned three decades such as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the 1950s sitcom, Bachelor Father (1957–1962), as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the popular 1970s crime drama, Charlie's Angels (1976–1981) and as conniving and beloved patriarch Blake Carrington on the popular 1980s soap opera, Dynasty (1981–1989). He’s also well-known for hosting Wildlife of Survival during the 1970s.

Early life

Forsythe, the older of three children, was born as John Lincoln Freund in Penns Grove, New Jersey to a factory worker. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York where his father worked as a Wall Street Businessman during the great depression of 1929.

At only 16 years of age he graduated from high school and began attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1936 at age 18, he took a job as the announcer at Ebbets Field Stadium in Brooklyn, New York confirming a childhood love of baseball.

Movie career and army service

Despite showing initial reluctance, he moved to an acting career at the suggestion of his father. While there he met actress Parker MacCormick and the two were married in 1939. The couple had their first son, Dall in 1941 but divorced the following year. Despite this, Forsythe kept in contact with Dall.

As a bit player for Warner Brothers, Forsythe appeared promising in several small roles. As a result he was given a starring role in Destination Tokyo
(1943). Leaving his movie career for service in World War II, he worked to recover injured soldiers who had developed speech problems. His time in the military ended before year end.

Also in 1943 he 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 in 80 Days. Julie became Forsythe's second wife and in the early 1950s the marriage produced two daughters - Page and Brokke, the latter four years younger.

In the late 1940s Forsythe helped found and worked at the prestigious Actors Studio where he met other promising young actors such as Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Tab Hunter, Richard Egan, Rod Serling and a 14-year-old future British young actress Joan Collins who would later co-star with him on Dynasty.

During this time he appeared successfully on Broadway in Mister Roberts and The Teahouse of the August Moon.

In 1955 Alfred Hitchcock hired him to star in the movie The Trouble with Harry
(1955) alongside a young Shirley MacLaine. This movie did not do well at the box office, and Forsythe found high profile movie work increasingly hard to find.

Television work

Bachelor Father

Now nearing 40, in 1957, he moved into series television, starring in a 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 smash hit and moved to NBC a few years later.

On one episode he had the pleasure of working with a young Linda Evans and she immediately formed a crush on the much older actor. This one-time episode would lead both him & Evans to star together in the popular 1980s soap opera, Dynasty, almost 20 years later. During the 1961 season, Bachelor Father moved to ABC but was cancelled that season due to declining ratings.

Post-Bachelor Father

In the early 1960s he made further movies including Kitten with a Whip (1964) and In Cold Blood
(1967) but made several attempts at developing new television series - including The John Forsythe Show (1965) and To Rome with Love (1969), but neither were successful.

Between 1971 and 1977 he served as narrator on the syndicated nature series, The Wildlife of Survival.

Charlie's Angels

His big break came in 1976, he began of what would be a 13 year relationship with Aaron Spelling with the role of a mysterious millionaire and private investigator, Charles Townsend, on the crime drama Charlie’s Angels for ABC. The character of Charlie never appeared on-screen and so Forsythe wasn't required on the set at all. Instead he would record his voice on tape which was presented as a speaker phone conversation in the show, instructing the eponymous Angels of their mission for the episode. Though he wasn't needed much for the set, he did in fact become friends before and after the show. His real co-star on the show was Jaclyn Smith who played one of his leading ladies, Kelly Garrett, who stayed with the show until its end, and Kate Jackson who met him at a race track in the 1970s, won the role of Sabrina Duncan, who was the "smart" angel. Jackson stayed with Angels for 3 seasons until she left in 1979 due to other projects.

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