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John Ritter

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This article is about the American actor. For the Pennsylvania Congressman, see John Ritter (congressman).
John Ritter
File:Jacktripper.jpg
John Ritter as Jack Tripper on Three's Company.
Born
Johnathan Southworth Ritter
Other namesJohnny Ritter
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)

John Southworth Ritter (September 17 1948 – September 11 2003) was an American actor best known for his role of Jack Tripper in the sitcom Three's Company.

Career

Ritter headlined several stage performances before he was made a star by appearing in the hit sitcom Three's Company (the Americanized version of the 1970s British Thames Television series Man About the House) in 1977, playing a single ladies' man and culinary student, Jack Tripper, who lived with two female roommates. Jack pretended to be gay to keep the landlords appeased over their living arrangement. The show spent several seasons at or near the top of the TV ratings in the U.S. before ending in 1984. Ritter went on for one more year on the spin-off Three's a Crowd. The original series has been seen continuously in reruns. It is also available on DVD. During the run of the show, he appeared in They All Laughed. In 1978, he played Ringo Starr's manager on the television special Ringo, and in 1982, played the voice of Peter Dickinson in Flight of Dragons.

Previous to his role in Three's Company, he occasionally appeared in the first five seasons of The Waltons on CBS as the Reverend Matthew Fordwick (1972-1976). He also guest starred in one episode of The Cosby Show in 1991.

After Three's Company, he appeared in a number of movies, notably Problem Child and its first sequel, Problem Child 2. He also appeared in the Academy Award-winning Sling Blade and Noises Off. He also starred with Markie Post in the early-1990s sitcom Hearts Afire and on the 1980s police comedy-drama Hooperman.

He starred in many made-for-TV movies including It Came From the Sky in 1999 with Yasmine Bleeth and made guest appearances on TV shows such as Ally McBeal, Scrubs and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also provided the voice for Clifford in the animated children's show Clifford the Big Red Dog, a role for which he received two Emmy nominations.

Ritter played Claude Pichon in The Dinner Party (2000) at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, which was written by Neil Simon. It ran for three hundred and sixty-four performances. Ritter won the Theatre World Award in 2001 for his performance in The Dinner Party.

In 2002, he made a TV comeback with the ABC family sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.

Ritter's final two movie roles were as the store manager in Bad Santa (2003), starring personal friend Billy Bob Thornton and Bernie Mac and Clifford's Really Big Movie.

Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Personal life

The son of singing cowboy matinee star Tex Ritter and American actress Dorothy Fay, Ritter was born in Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948. Ritter attended Hollywood High School, where he was Student Body President. He went on to the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) fraternity, majored in psychology and minored in architecture. He married twice, once to actress Nancy Morgan (married 1977-divorced 1996) and then to actress Amy Yasbeck (married 1999-his death). Yasbeck had played his wife or love interest in the first two Problem Child movies (interestingly, she played a distinct character in each movie). Additionally, she was his wife in their 1991 guest appearance on The Cosby Show as the in-labor wife of Ritter's basketball coach character. Ritter and Morgan had three children: Carly, Tyler, and Jason. He and Yasbeck had one daughter, Stella.

Death

On September 11, 2003, Ritter became ill during rehearsals for 8 Simple Rules, which was starting its second season. He was taken across the street from the studio to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he died hours later at the age of 54. John Ritter died just days before his 55th birthday, in the same hospital in which he was born. The date of his death was the same as his daughter Stella's fifth birthday, the day before wife Yasbeck's fortieth birthday, and six days before their wedding anniversary. He died from an aortic dissection caused by a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. Ritter was interred at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter was retitled 8 Simple Rules after Ritter's death and continued for two more seasons. The first three episodes of Season 2 had featured Ritter, so they were rewritten. The season dealt with the family trying to move on after their patriarch's death. New male characters, played by James Garner and David Spade, were added to fill the gap.

File:My Old Man.jpg
John Ritter on Scrubs.

Ritter's last films, Bad Santa and Clifford's Really Big Movie, were dedicated in his memory as was the sixth episode of Season 4 of Scrubs, "My Cake". The latter is particularly poignant as Ritter previously played the role of the protagonist John Dorian's father, and the episode revolves around Dorian's father's sudden death.

Preceded by
None
 Host of TV Land Awards
2003 		Succeeded by

Television

Trivia

  • John was bachelor number three on an episode of The Dating Game prior to the start of his acting career.
  • On Clifford's Really Big Movie, voiced by John Ritter, the end credits dedicate the film to John.
  • A joke about John Ritter's role in 8 Simple Rules was deleted from the "North by North Quahog" episode of Family Guy in an apparently rare case of the writing team finding one of their own jokes too distasteful to broadcast; originally, the gag involved Meg wanting to watch 8 Simple Rules, but Chris refuses to change the channel, quoting "That show hasn't been the same since they killed John Ritter". It was replaced with a joke about George Lopez, with Meg wanting to watch The George Lopez Show, but Chris refusing to change the channel, quoting "That show only furthers the stereotype that George Lopez is funny".
  • The movie Bad Santa is dedicated to his memory.
  • John Ritter appeared as a Special Guest voice in an episode of King Of The Hill, which was also dedicated to his memory.
  • In the movie Problem Child 2 John's character Ben Healy and his son live at the address 911--the date he died.

Filmography

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