John Forsythe, 'Dynasty' star

LOS ANGELES - John Forsythe, 92, the tanned, smooth-voiced actor who made his fortune as a scheming oil tycoon in TV's

Dynasty

and the voice of the leader of

Charlie's Angels

, has died after a yearlong struggle with cancer.

Mr. Forsythe died Thursday at his home in Santa Ynez, Calif., from complications of pneumonia, publicist Harlan Boll said Friday.

Despite Mr. Forsythe's distinguished work in theater and films, his greatest fame came from his role as Blake Carrington in the 1981-89 primetime soap opera Dynasty. He 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 by Joan Collins.

He was an important part of another hit series without being seen. From 1976 to 1981 he was the voice of Charlie, the boss who delivered assignments to his female detectives via telephone in Charlie's Angels. He reprised the role in two films, in 2000 and 2003.

He was born John Lincoln Freund on Jan. 29, 1918, in Penns Grove, Salem County.

He won an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina, had a stint as public-address announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, then launched his struggle to become an actor against the wishes of his father.

Having had his name mispronounced all his life, he adopted the name of Forsythe, which came from his mother's family.

He viewed himself with self-effacing humor. In a 1981 interview he 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."

While he had small roles in a couple of films in the early 1940s, his 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.

Declining to return to Warner Bros. after the war, Mr. Forsythe began appearing in television plays as early as 1947, and continued his Broadway career. He played a 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," he remarked.

The call to Hollywood was irresistible, and Mr. Forsythe went west to star in such films as The Captive City 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.

But Mr. Forsythe's film roles were limited because he was busy in television. The comedy Bachelor Father, in which he played a Hollywood lawyer who cared for his teenage niece, lasted from 1957 to 1962, appearing successively on CBS, NBC, and ABC.