John Ritter
John Southworth Ritter (
September 17 1948 –
September 11 2003) was an
American actor best known for his roles of
Jack Tripper in the sitcom
Three's Company as well as Ben Healy Jr. in the first two
Problem Child movies.
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 happy with the living arrangement. The show spent several seasons at or near the top of the TV ratings in the US 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 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 perfomances. 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
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.
The son of singing cowboy matinee star
Tex Ritter, Ritter born in
Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948, 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 two of the
Problem Child movies (interestingly, as two distinct characters). Additionally she was his wife in their 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.
On
September 11,
2003, Ritter became ill during rehearsals for
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, 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. John Ritter died just days before his 55th birthday. Coincidentally, Ritter passed away in the same hospital he was born in. The date of his passing 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 passed away 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.
Ritter's last films,
Bad Santa and
Clifford's Really Big Movie, were dedicated in his
memory.
M*A*S*H (
1973) Guest Appearance
The Waltons (
1973-
1976)
The Bob Newhart Show (
1974) Guest Appearance
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (
1975) Guest Appearance
Rhoda (
1976) Guest Appearance
Phyllis (
1976) Guest Appearance
Three's Company (
1977-
1984)
Ringo[
1] (
1978)
The Ropers (
1979) Guest Appearance
Flight of Dragons (
1982) voice
Three's a Crowd (
1984-
1985)
Hooperman (
1987-
1989)
The Cosby Show (
1991) Guest Appearance
Hearts Afire (
1992-
1995)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (
1997) Guest Appearance
Ally McBeal (
1998) Guest Appearance
Felicity Guest Appearance
Clifford the Big Red Dog (
2000-
2003) voice
Scrubs (
2002) Guest Appearance
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (
2002-
2003)
*On an episode of
Three's Company,
John Ritter's character pretends to die of a heart attack; Ritter himself died of a heart complication in 2003.
*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. It was replaced with a joke about
George Lopez.
The Other (
1972)
Americathon (
1979)
Hero at Large[2] (
1980)
Wholly Moses (
1980)
The Comeback Kid[3] (
1980)
They All Laughed (
1981)
Pray TV (
1982)
In Love With An Older Woman (
1982)
Sunset Limousine[4] (
1983)
Letting Go (
1985)
A Smoky Mountain Christmas (
1986)
Unnatural Causes (
1987)
Real Men (
1987)
Tricks of the Trade (
1988)
Skin Deep (
1989)
The Last Fling (
1989)
Problem Child (
1990)
It (
1990)
Everybody Wins (
1990)
The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (
1990)
Problem Child 2 (
1991)
Stay Tuned (
1992)
Noises Off (
1992)
Prison for Children (
1993)
My Brother's Wife (
1993)
The Colony (
1995)
Mercenary (movie) (
1996)
Nowhere (
1996)
Sling Blade (
1997)
Sink Or Swim (
1997)
A Gun, a Car, a Blonde (
1997)
Bride of Chucky (
1998)
The Million Dollar Kid (
1999)
It Came From the Sky (
1999)
Dead Husbands (
1999)
Tripfall (
2000)
Terror Tract (
2000)
Panic (
2000)
Manhood (
2002)
Man of the Year (
2002)
Tadpole (
2002)
Bad Santa (
2003)
Clifford's Big Red Movie (
2003) (voice)
*
*
John Ritter Online - A Living Tribute*
John Ritter's Gravesite*
The Last Days of John Ritter
