LOS ANGELES — John Forsythe, the handsome, smooth-voiced actor who made his fortune as the scheming oil tycoon in TV’s “Dynasty” and the voice of the leader of “Charlie’s Angels,” has died after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 92.
Forsythe died late Thursday at his home in Santa Ynez from complications of pneumonia, publicist Harlan Boll said Friday.
“He died as he lived his life, with dignity and grace,” daughter Brooke Forsythe said.
Despite his distinguished work in theater and films, Forsythe’s greatest fame came from his role as Blake Carrington in producer Aaron Spelling’s 1981-89 primetime soap opera “Dynasty.”
Forsythe lent dignity to the tale of murder, deceit, adultery and high finance, which often brought Carrington into conflict with his flashy, vengeful former wife, Alexis Colby, played to the hilt by Joan Collins.
“He was one of the last of the true gentlemen of the acting profession,” Collins said. “I enjoyed our nine years of feuding, fussing and fighting as the Carringtons.”
Heather Locklear, another “Dynasty” co-star, called him “a gentleman in every sense of the word,” and a “gifted actor who knew the true meaning of being gracious and kind.”
Forsythe was an important part of another hit Spelling series without being seen. From 1976 to 1981 he played the voice of Charlie, the boss who delivered assignments to his beautiful detectives, including Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Ladd, via telephone in “Charlie’s Angels.”
“We were so happy when he agreed to be the voice of Charlie, and he always laughed about having to take a back seat to Farrah’s hair,” Spelling’s widow Candy said.
Ladd, who lives near Forsythe, said she would miss him terribly.
“I’m mourning with the rest of the world for the talented, gorgeous, funny, intelligent John Forsythe,” she said.
Forsythe evidenced little of the ego drive that motivates many actors. He viewed himself with a self-effacing humor, considering himself “a vastly usable, not wildly talented actor.”
In a 1981 interview, he also said: “I figure there are a few actors like Marlon Brando, George C. Scott and Laurence Olivier who have been touched by the hand of God. I’m in the next bunch.”
With his full head of silver hair, tanned face and soothing voice, Forsythe as Carrington attracted the ardor of millions of female television viewers. “It’s rather amusing at my advanced age (mid-60s) to become a sex symbol,” he cracked.
While he had small roles in a couple of films in the early 1940s, Forsythe’s first successes were mainly on the stage. While serving during World War II, he was cast in Moss Hart’s Air Force show “Winged Victory,” along with many other future stars.
After the war, Forsythe became a founding member of the Actors Studio, recalling it as “a wildly stimulating place for a guy like me who was a babe in the woods. I never suspected there was that kind of artistry and psychological approach to acting.”
Forsythe began appearing in television plays as early as 1947, and he continued his Broadway career. A role in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” led to the awesome task of replacing Henry Fonda in “Mister Roberts.”
He was next able to create a role of his own, as the naive Army officer in occupied Okinawa in “Teahouse of the August Moon.” The play was a huge success, winning the Pulitzer Prize. “It gave me a sense of worth as an actor,” Forsythe remarked.
The call to Hollywood was irresistible, and Forsythe came west to star in such films as “The Captive City,” “The Glass Web” and “Escape from Fort Bravo.” His best break came in 1955 when he starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s one attempt at whimsy, “The Trouble with Harry,” about a corpse that kept turning up in a New England town.
In lieu of flowers, Forsythe’s family asked that donations be made to the American Cancer Society. The family said there will be no public service.
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