John Forsythe Dies, April 2010
We lost John Forsythe the week I am posting this...but 92's a pretty long life.
Funny thing: Forsythe rather "peaked early" with the LEAD in a Hitchcock film ("The Trouble With Harry", 1955) then had TV shows in the fifties and sixties(mainly "Bachelor Father," but also the short lived "John Forsyhe Show".
Forsythe's career struggled in the early 70's(I once saw him have to wear a silly T-shirt and dive into a giant vat of jello on a syndicated game show, "Beat the Clock" I think, honest) but then...
...1976: Forsythe gets to be the voice-only "Charlie" on "Charlie's Angels."
...1979: Forsythe plays an evil judge opposite Al Pacino in "And Justice for All." This gives him a "new tough guy" persona that he soon puts to use in:
---1981: George Peppard quits or is fired as the star of "Dynasty." Forsythe steps into the part for producer Aaron Spelling(who also produced "Charlie's Angels) and becomes the biggest star he's ever been, in his sixties. (When "The Trouble With Harry" is re-released in 1984, the movie is advertised as "starring Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine of Terms of Endearment and John Forsythe of "Dynasty.")
John Forsythe's "mini-career" with Alfred Hitchcock is of some interest, starting with his landing a lead role in "The Trouble With Harry"(a role originally considered for Cary Grant or William Holden.) Hitchcock recommended to Forsythe, however, that his career would be better-placed in television, not movies, and "Forsythe obeyed." Though he made some movies, Forsythe was a TV actor at heart.
14 years after "The Trouble With Harry," Hitchcock tapped Forsythe as the only identifiable American actor (and a minor-name one, as well) for the movie "Topaz." Still, Forsythe carried his role like an established movie star. Forsythe is quite good in "Topaz." I love the real anger he projects when he snarls at the Russian defector who is clamming up: "C'MON! Kusenov!" He really looked p.o.'ed.
Forsythe remarked in an interview that it was rather sad to see how much Hitchcock's age had messed with his mind and energy in the years since "The Trouble With Harry." On "Topaz," Forsythe said, Hitchcock tended to fall asleeep a lot and "the great brain" was not working as well. Still, "Topaz" is a pretty good movie for one made by a director in decline.
Between "The Trouble With Harry" and "Topaz," John Forsythe worked on one other key occasion for Hitchcock. Forsythe was the star of the only HOUR episode of his TV series("The Alfred Hitchcock Hour") that Hitchcock ever directed: "I Saw the Whole Thing," which also proved to be the last time Hitchcock ever directed for his TV show. This was a 1962 episode, the show continued on through 1965.
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In the sixties, amidst a lot of TV work and before "Topaz," Forsythe appeared in one other major film: Richard Brooks shocking and gritty rendering of Truman Capote's true crim novel, "In Cold Blood." Forsythe looked like the real-life cop who cracked the murders, he got the role in an important movie.
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So that's a fine career. Hitchcock, TV stardom, a "down period," a comeback, "Charlie's Angels," "And Justice For All," another comeback, and the big final bow of "Dynasty." With years still left in his life after "Dynasty."
Rest in peace, and congratulations Mr. Forsythe.