Remembering John Forsythe on the day of his birth - 105 years ago ( Bachelor Father)

Описание: Hello everyone. As we work our way through each season paying tribute to the various television seasons of yesteryear, we also stop every once in a while to pay tribute to special milestones of individual television series, as well as to remember special actors and actresses from those series. We have our personal favorites who we remember each year on their birthday, and every once in a while we want to pay tribute to an actor or actress who may no longer be with us, but remains in our memories and made a significant impact on television.

Today, we pay tribute to John Forsythe, who was born 105 years ago today, January 29, 1918. Mr. Forsythe passed away on April 1, 2010 at the age of 92.

His acting career spanned the decades, and the second half of the 20th century, including a remarkable run on television. There are very few actors and actresses who had three hit (and long running) broadcast television series: Lucille Ball, Betty White, Robert Conrad, Michael Landon... John Forsythe is a member of this very unique and short-list club. His television series work spanned the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, as did the work of the other four members of this club. It requires great longevity, and an ability to 'connect' with viewers over a long period time, on a weekly basis. (Just for completeness, James Garner came very close to making this special list, as did Bob Newhart).

John Forsythe began his acting career in the 1940s, spent time in the military during WWII, and post war began to get significant roles in feature films working with Loretta Young, Shirley MacLaine and Oliva de Havilland.

He began to make the migration to the young medium of television in the 1950s, beginning with the starring role of Bentley Gregg on the hit CBS series Bachelor Father. The show would move to NBC and then ABC during its five year run from 1957 to 1962 (the first series to play on all three networks). The series co-starred Noreen Corcoran as daughter Kelly and Sammee Tong as home caretaker and butler Peter. A sweet, endearing show that gave many young actresses their first work on television, including Linda Evans.

After the series ended, Forsythe moved back to feature films: Madame X, In Cold Blodd and Topaz, a Alfred Hitchcock international thriller.

Mr. Forsythe moved back to television again in the mid 1970s, with the hit series Charlie's Angels, where he played the never seen 'Charlie', leading his three 'angel's/detectives each week from one adventure and crime to the next. It was on this series that Forsythe met show producer Aaron Spelling, and the two would team up again in the 1980s.

In the late 1970s, Forsythe battled some health issues, but was able to continue his voice work on Charlie's Angels, as well as the feature film 'And Justice For All', battling lawyer Al Pacino... a very impressive movie.

In 1981, Forsythe hit super stardom with the hit ABC television series Dynasty. Produced by Aaron Spelling, the show became, along with CBS' Dallas, the biggest hit drama series of the decade and made house-hold names of their stars.

In the 1990s, John Forsythe returned to series television with the series 'The Powers That Be', but the series longevity and success was not to be. Mr. Forsythe did return to working with the Dynasty cast in tv-movie/mini-series work and a documentary retrospective on the series. He also played Charlie on the feature films of Charlies Angels with producer/actress Drew Barrymore.

So, today we salute John Forsythe on what would have been his 105th birthday, and we thank him for his amazing work on, and contributions to, the television industry.

Well done John, and rest in peace.

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Enjoy.