Forsythe also enjoyed a successful television career , starring in three television series , spanning four decades and three genres : as the single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom '' Bachelor Father '' ( 1957 &ndash; 1962 ) , as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend in the crime drama '' Charlie 's Angels '' ( 1976 &ndash; 1981 ) — a role he would reprise in the 2000 and 2003 film adaptations — and as patriarch Blake Carrington in '' Dynasty '' ( 1981 &ndash; 1989 ) . He hosted the series '' World of Survival '' ( 1971 &ndash; 1977 ) , and was also the presenter of the 38th Miss Universe Pageant , broadcast on CBS in 1989 . The eldest of three children , Forsythe was born as John , or Jacob , Lincoln Freund ( sources differ ) on January 29 , 1918 , in Penns Grove , New Jersey , to Blanche Forsythe ( née Blohm ) and Samuel Jeremiah Freund . Blanche was born in Georgia , to David Hyat Blohm , a Russian Jewish immigrant , and Mary S. Materson , who herself was born in Maryland , to Jewish emigrants from Prussia . Forysthe 's father was a stockbroker , who was born in New York , to Polish Jewish immigrants
Miss Universe
Miss Universe 1989
John Forsythe