TLDR: John Forsythe spent decades building relationships that eventually shaped Dynasty before the show even existed. He’d known Joan Collins since she was a teenager and Linda Evans since she was barely older, long before either woman ever became his on-screen wife.
John Lincoln Freund was born January 29, 1918, in Penns Grove, New Jersey, the son of a Wall Street businessman who wanted nothing to do with his son’s interest in acting.
Forsythe pursued it anyway, graduating from the University of North Carolina before working briefly as the public address announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, a job that drew directly on a lifelong love of baseball.
He Waited Tables With Kirk Douglas Before Either One Made It
Before landing steady acting work, Forsythe worked as a waiter at the same restaurant as a young Kirk Douglas, two future stars serving tables side by side with no guarantee either of them would ever be famous.
He helped found the Actors Studio in the late 1940s, training alongside a roster that included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Rod Serling, and, remarkably, a 14-year-old Joan Collins, decades before either of them had any reason to think they’d eventually star opposite each other as husband and screen-nemesis.
He met Linda Evans just as early, first encountering her and her family when she was only 15 years old, guest-starring on one of his earlier shows.
He Played a Character Audiences Heard for Five Years and Never Once Saw
In 1976, Forsythe got a phone call from his friend Aaron Spelling asking him to voice a mysterious millionaire private investigator for a new TV movie called Charlie’s Angels.
Forsythe agreed, recording his lines as a speakerphone voice that never required him to appear on set at all, and the arrangement continued for the full run of the series through 1981.
Decades later, he signed a $5 million deal to reprise the voice for the 2000 and 2003 Charlie’s Angels films.
He Was the Only Actor Who Never Missed an Episode
When Dynasty launched in 1981, following George Peppard’s abrupt firing from the same role, Forsythe became the show’s steady center as Blake Carrington.
He’s the only actor to appear in all 220 episodes across the show’s original run, earning two Golden Globes and three Emmy nominations for the part. He was also involved directly in writing scripts for the series, an unusual level of creative input for a lead actor at the time.
The role’s popularity ran deep enough that in 1985, Forsythe became the spokesperson for an actual men’s cologne line named Carrington, cashing in on the character’s real cultural cachet.
He Kept Working Despite a Serious Health Scare
Forsythe underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 1979, just two years before Dynasty premiered, and continued working steadily for decades afterward regardless.
Away from acting, he was a passionate thoroughbred horse breeder and racer, serving as vice president of Hollywood Park in Inglewood for four years and sitting on its board of directors for eleven.
He died on April 1, 2010, in Santa Ynez, California, at age 92, from complications of pneumonia following a year-long battle with cancer. Former Charlie’s Angels costar Cheryl Ladd, who’d also been his longtime neighbor, mourned him publicly at the time.
You can read more about the rest of the Dynasty cast in our full guide to the show.
John Forsythe, Frequently Asked Questions
Did John Forsythe know Joan Collins before Dynasty?
Yes, he met her when she was 14 years old, both training at the Actors Studio he helped found in the late 1940s, decades before they were cast together.
What role is John Forsythe known for besides Dynasty?
He was the unseen voice of Charlie on Charlie’s Angels from 1976 to 1981, a role he never appeared on screen for, and starred as a single father in the 1950s sitcom Bachelor Father.
Did John Forsythe appear in every episode of Dynasty?
Yes, he’s the only actor to appear in all 220 episodes across the show’s original nine-season run.
How did John Forsythe die?
He died on April 1, 2010, in Santa Ynez, California, at age 92, from complications of pneumonia following a year-long battle with cancer.
