John Ritter

This article is about the American actor. For other uses, see John Ritter (disambiguation).

John Ritter
Ritter at the 1988 Emmy Awards
Born	Jonathan Southworth Ritter (1948-09-17)September 17, 1948 Burbank, California, U.S.
Died	September 11, 2003(2003-09-11) (aged 54) Burbank, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Undiagnosed aortic dissection
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian, voice-over artist
Years active	1968–2003
Notable work	Jack Tripper on Three's Company
Spouse(s)	Nancy Morgan (1977–1996) Amy Yasbeck (1999–2003)
Parent(s)	Tex Ritter Dorothy Fay

Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor, comedian, and voice-over artist. Ritter was best known for playing Jack Tripper on the hit ABC sitcom Three's Company, for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award in 1984.

Ritter appeared in hundreds of films and television shows/episodes combined (and performed on Broadway), including It (1990), Problem Child (1990), Problem Child 2 (1991) and Bad Santa in 2003 (his final live action film which was dedicated in his memory). Prior to Clifford's Really Big Movie (posthumously released), Ritter received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his voice work on the children's television series, Clifford the Big Red Dog, in addition to many other awards Ritter was nominated for or won.

Son of famous country/western star Tex Ritter, his untimely death occurred shortly after the production of an episode for the second season of 8 Simple Rules in 2003.

Don Knotts called Ritter the "greatest physical comedian on the planet". He died of an aortic dissection on September 11, 2003.

Early life

Ritter was born in Burbank, California. His German American father, Tex Ritter, was a singing cowboy/matinee-star, and his mother, Dorothy Fay (née Southworth), was an actress. 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, and majored in psychology and minored in architecture. Ritter was a contestant on The Dating Game in 1966.

While still in college, Ritter traveled to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and West Germany to perform in plays. After his graduation from USC in 1970, his first TV acting experience was a campus revolutionary in the TV series, Dan August, starring Burt Reynolds and future Three's Company alumnus Norman Fell. Ritter made his film debut in The Barefoot Executive. Ritter made guest appearances on the television series Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, and many others. Ritter had a recurring role (he appeared in 18 episodes), as Reverend Matthew Fordwick, on the drama series, The Waltons, from October 1972 to December 1976. Since he was not a weekly cast member, he had the time to pursue other roles, which he did until December 1976, when he left for a permanent role on Three’s Company.

Television and film career

Ritter headlined several stage performances before he was made a star by appearing in the hit ABC 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 lives with two female roommates. The females originally were Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers). While in later years the character of Janet remained, Somers was fired and other characters replaced her, including Chrissy's cousin Cindy (Jenilee Harrison), and unrelated roommate Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes). Jack pretended to be gay to keep the landlords appeased over their living arrangements. The show spent several seasons near the top of the TV ratings in the U.S. before ending in 1984. Ritter performed for one year on the spin-off Three's a Crowd. The original series has been seen continuously in reruns and is also available on DVD. During the run of Three's Company, Ritter appeared in the films Hero at Large, Americathon, and They All Laughed.

In 1978, Ritter played Ringo Starr's manager on the television special Ringo, and in 1982, provided the voice of Peter Dickinson in Flight of Dragons. Hooperman was Ritter's first acting role after Three's Company. In the show, he played Detective Harry Hooperman who inherits a run down apartment building. He hires Susan Smith (Debrah Farentino). A relationship follows and Hooperman must juggle work, love, plus the antics of Bijoux the dog. John was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his work on Hooperman in 1988. Ritter won a People's Choice Award for this role. In 1992-95, Ritter returned to TV for three seasons as John Hartman, aide to the Senator in Hearts Afire. This series starred Markie Post as Georgie Anne Lahti and Billy Bob Thornton as Billy Bob Davis. Ritter played the role of "Dad" in the music video Graham Nash's song "Innocent Eyes" from the 1996 album of the same name.

After his time on television, Ritter appeared in a number of movies, most notably Problem Child and its first sequel. He rejoined with Billy Bob Thornton in the Oscar-winning Sling Blade (playing a gay, kindhearted discount store manager) and Noises Off, and played the lead role in Blake Edwards' 1989 film Skin Deep. Ritter starred in many made-for-TV movies, including Gramps (1995), co-starring with Andy Griffith, Rob Hedden's The Colony (1995) with Hal Linden, Stephen King's It, Danielle Steel's Heartbeat with Polly Draper, and It Came From the Sky in 1999 with Yasmine Bleeth.

Ritter also made guest appearances on TV shows, such as "Felicity", Ally McBeal, Scrubs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well as an episode of Law & Order: SVU where the case involves the beating of a seven-months-pregnant woman, whose unborn child has been forcibly removed from her body via a primitive cesarean section. Among the witnesses questioned is the woman's husband, a psychiatrist with several damaging secrets and knows more about his wife's beating than he's willing to admit. John also provided the voice of the title character in the PBS animated children's show Clifford the Big Red Dog, a role for which he received four Emmy nominations. He starred alongside kickboxing actor Olivier Gruner for the buddy cop film Mercenary.

Broadway career

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 that work.

Personal life

In 1977, Ritter was married to actress Nancy Morgan, with whom he had three children: Jason (who first appeared in the opening credits of Three's Company),[1][2] Carly, and Tyler. They divorced in 1996.

He married actress Amy Yasbeck September 18, 1999. He and Yasbeck had one daughter, Stella, born in 1998, a year before they were married. Yasbeck had variously played his love interest in the first two Problem Child movies. Yasbeck also played Ritter's wife in two sitcom appearances. In 1991, both were guest stars on The Cosby Show, in which Yasbeck played the in-labor wife of Ritter's basketball coach character. In 1996, Ritter guest starred on Yasbeck's sitcom, Wings, as the estranged husband of Yasbeck's character, Casey.

Death

Ritter's gravestone

On September 11, 2003, Ritter fell ill and complained about severe chest pains during rehearsals for 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, when he collapsed during the rehearsals and fell into a coma. He was taken across the street to the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he died later that evening, at approximately 10:45 pm PST from an aortic dissection caused by a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect.

In 2008, five years later Yasbeck filed a $67 million wrongful death lawsuit against radiologist Dr. Matthew Lotysch and cardiologist Dr. Joseph Lee. Yasbeck accused Lee, who treated Ritter on the day of his death, of misdiagnosing his condition as a heart attack, and Lotysch, who had given him a full-body scan two years earlier, of failing at that time to detect an enlargement of Ritter's aorta. Both sides agree that Ritter's true condition—an aortic dissection, which is a tear in the largest blood vessel in the body that grows until one suffers cardiac arrest or until trapped blood leaks out of the vessel—was not identified until right before his death. In 2008, at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the jury concluded that the doctors who treated Ritter the day he died were not negligent and thus not responsible for his death. According to court records, Ritter's family received more than $14 million in settlements, including $9.4 million from Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he died. Ritter was interred at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles; his father is buried at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in Port Neches, Texas.

Response and legacy

Many of Ritter's co-workers expressed deep sorrow and heartbreak following the news of his death. Ritter's Three's Company co-star and close friend Suzanne Somers expressed immense despair for Ritter's family: "I'm so sad for the family. We lost a good one, it was so unfinished". Zach Braff, who worked with Ritter on Scrubs, called Ritter a "comic hero" of his and said he had approached series creator Bill Lawrence to get Ritter to play his TV dad. Katey Sagal testified in the wrongful death lawsuit, calling Ritter a "funny man who was funny like nobody's business".

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter was later retitled 8 Simple Rules following Ritter's death and continued for one and a half more seasons until its cancellation in 2005. Ritter's character, Paul Hennessy, was said to have died after collapsing in a grocery store while buying milk. ABC aired the first three episodes of the show's second season that had been taped before his death. The remainder of the show dealt with the family's trying to grapple with Paul's death. New male characters, played by James Garner and David Spade, were later added to the main cast as Ritter's replacement. Shortly before his death, Ritter did a week-long taping with Hollywood Squares, which was aired as a tribute to him, introduced by Henry Winkler, the executive producer of the show and very close friend of Ritter's. Four days after Ritter's death, Nick at Nite ran an all-night Three's Company marathon that was dedicated to his memory.

In 2004, Ritter was posthumously given an Emmy nomination for playing Paul Hennessey in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, but lost to Kelsey Grammer for playing the title character of Frasier. Upon accepting his trophy, Grammer's remarks included comments made in tribute and remembrance of Ritter. Ritter's final films, Bad Santa and Clifford's Really Big Movie, along with an episode of Scrubs (his character in this series died as well following Ritter's real life death) and King of the Hill, were dedicated in his memory.

On June 6, 2008, a mural of Ritter painted by Eloy Torrez was dedicated at Hollywood High School. In March 2010, the Thoracic Aortic Disease (TAD) Coalition, in partnership with Yasbeck, and the John Ritter Foundation, announced the creation of the Ritter Rules. The purpose of the charity is to help raise awareness among all of the public about aortic dissection so they can reduce their risk of the same kind of tragedy that took the life of Ritter. Yasbeck has worked with the University of Texas Medical School at Houston Team, identifying genes that may lead to an aortic aneurysm, which are collected by a saliva sample along with many other samples. All four of Ritter's children are included in the study.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Barefoot Executive	Roger	Debut
1971	Scandalous John	Wandell
1972	The Other	Rider
1973	The Stone Killer	Officer Mort
1976	Nickelodeon	Franklin Frank
1978	Breakfast in Bed	Paul
1979	Americathon	President Chet Roosevelt
1980	Hero at Large	Steve Nichols
1980	Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)	Snoopy (speakable voice)	by Walt Disney Productions and United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
1980	Wholly Moses!	Satan (The Devil)
1981	They All Laughed	Charles Rutledge
1982	The Flight of Dragons	Peter Dickenson	Voice Direct-to-video
1983	Sunset Limousine	Alan O'Black
1985	Letting Go	Alex	TV Film
1986	A Smoky Mountain Christmas	Judge Harold Benton	(uncredited)
1987	Real Men	Bob Wilson/Agent Pillbox, CIA
1989	Skin Deep	Zachary 'Zach' Hutton
1990	It	Ben Hanscom
1990	Problem Child	'Little' Ben Healy
1991	The Real Story of O Christmas Tree	Piney (Voice)	Direct-to-video release
1991	Problem Child 2	Ben Healy
1992	Noises Off	Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain
1992	Stay Tuned	Roy Knable
1993	Danielle Steel's Heartbeat	Bill Grant
1994	North	Ward Nelson
1995	The Colony	Rick Knowlton
1996	Sling Blade	Vaughan Cunningham
1997	Nowhere	Moses Helper
1997	A Gun, a Car, a Blonde	Duncan/The Bartender
1997	Hacks	Hank
1998	Montana	Dr. Wexler
1998	Shadow of Doubt	Steven Mayer
1998	I Woke Up Early the Day I Died	Robert Forrest
1998	Bride of Chucky	Police Chief Warren Kincaid
2000	Panic	Dr. Josh Parks
2000	Lost in the Perishing Point Hotel	Christian Therapist
2000	Tripfall	Tom Williams
2000	Terror Tract	Bob Carter	Segment: Make Me an Offer
2001	Nuncrackers	Narrator	Direct-to-video
2002	Tadpole	Stanley Grubman
2002	Man of the Year	Bill
2003	Manhood	Eli
2003	Bad Santa	Bob Chipeska	Posthumously released. Final live action film.
2004	Clifford's Really Big Movie	Clifford the Big Red Dog (Voice)	Posthumously released.
2006	Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up	Great Uncle Stew (Voice)	Posthumous direct-to-video release Final animated and voice acting film.

Television

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Crazy World, Crazy People	Various characters	TV special
1970	Dan August		Episode: "Quadrangle for Death"
1971, 1977	Hawaii Five-O	Ryan Moore Mike Welles	2 episodes
1972 to 1976	The Waltons	Rev. Matthew Fordwick	18 episodes
1973	Medical Center	Ronnie	Episode: "End of the Line"
1973	Bachelor-at-Law	Ben Sykes	Unsold CBS TV pilot
1973	M*A*S*H	Pvt. Carter	Episode: "Deal Me Out"
1974	Kojak	Kenny Soames	Episode: "Deliver Us Some Evil"
1974	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law	Greg	Episode: "To Keep and Bear Arms"
1974	The Bob Newhart Show	Dave	Episode: "Sorry, Wrong Mother"
1975	Movin' On	Casey	Episode: "Landslide"
1975	Mannix	Cliff Elgin	Episode: "Hardball"
1975	The Bob Crane Show	Hornbeck	Episode: "Son of the Campus Capers"
1975	Petrocelli	John Oleson	Episode: "Chain of Command"
1975	Barnaby Jones	Joe Rockwell	Episode: "The Price of Terror"
1975	The Streets of San Francisco	John 'Johnny' Steiner	Episode: "Murder by Proxy"
1975	The Night That Panicked America	Walter Wingate	ABC TV film
1975	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Reverend Chatfield	Episode: "Ted's Wedding"
1975	The Rookies	Hap Dawson	Episode: "Reluctant Hero"
1975 to 1976	Rhoda	Vince Mazuma Jerry Blocker	2 episodes
1976	Starsky and Hutch	Tom Cole	Episode: "The Hostages"
1976	Phyllis	Paul Jameson	Episode: "The New Job"
1976 to 1984	Three's Company	Jack Tripper	174 episodes
1977 to 1983	The Love Boat	Dale Riley/Reinhardt	3 episodes
1978	Ringo	Marty	TV film
1978	Leave Yesterday Behind	Paul Stallings	ABC TV film
1979	The Ropers	Jack Tripper	Episode: "The Party"
1980	The Associates	Chick	Episode: "The Censors"
1980	The Comeback Kid	Bubba Newman	ABC TV film
1981	Insight	Frankie	Episode: "Little Miseries"
1982	Pray TV	Tom McPherson	ABC TV film
1982	In Love with an Older Woman	Robert	CBS TV film
1983	Sunset Limousine	Alan O'Black	CBS TV film
1984	Love Thy Neighbor	Danny Loeb	ABC TV film
1984	Pryor's Place		Episode: "The Showoff"
1984 to 1985	Three's a Crowd	Jack Tripper	22 episodes
1985	Letting Go	Alex	ABC TV film
1986	Living Seas	Host	NBC TV film
1986	Unnatural Causes	Frank Coleman	NBC TV film
1986	A Smoky Mountain Christmas	Judge Harold Benton	ABC film
1986	Life With Lucy	Himself	Guest Appearance
1987	The Last Fling	Phillip Reed	ABC TV film
1987	Prison for Children	David Royce	CBS TV film
1987 to 1989	Hooperman	Det. Harry Hooperman	42 episodes
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Dudley Goode	TV special
1988	Tricks of the Trade	Donald Todsen	Cameo CBS TV film
1989	My Brother's Wife	Barney	ABC TV film
1990	Stephen King's It	Adult Ben "Haystack" Hanscom	ABC TV film
1990	The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story	L. Frank Baum	NBC TV film
1991	The Cosby Show	Ray Evans	Episode: "Total Control"
1991	The Summer My Father Grew Up	Paul	NBC TV film
1991	Anything But Love	Patrick Serreau	5 episodes
1992	Fish Police	Inspector Gill	Voice
1992 to 1994	Hearts Afire	John Hartman	54 episodes
1993	Heartbeat	Bill Grant	NBC TV film
1993	The Only Way Out	Jeremy Carlisle	ABC TV film
1993	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself	Episode: "Off Camera"
1994	Dave's World	John Hartman	Episode: "Please Won't You Be My Neighbor"
1995	Gramps	Clarke MacGruder	NBC TV film
1995	The Colony	Rick Knowlton	TV film
1995	NewsRadio	Dr. Frank Westford	Episode: "The Shrink"
1995	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself	Episode: "The Fourteenth Floor"
1996	Unforgivable	Paul Hegstrom	CBS TV film
1996	Wings	Stuart Davenport	Episode: "Love Overboard"
1996	For Hope	Date #5	uncredited ABC TV film
1996 to 1999	Touched by an Angel	Mike O'Connor Tom McKinsley	2 episodes
1997	Loss of Faith	Bruce Simon Barker	TV film
1997	Mercenary	Jonas Ambler	HBO TV film
1997	A Child's Wish	Ed Chandler	CBS TV film
1997	Dead Man's Gun	Harry McDonacle	Segment: "The Great McDonacle"
1997	Over the Top	Justin Talbot	Episode: "The Nemesis"
1997	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Ted Buchanan	Episode: "Ted"
1997 to 2003	King of the Hill	Eugene Grandy (Voice)	4 episodes
1998	Chance of a Lifetime	Tom Maguire	CBS TV film
1998	Ally McBeal	George Madison	2 episodes
1998	Dead Husbands	Dr. Carter Elston	TV film
1999	Veronica's Closet	Tim	Episode: "Veronica's Favorite Year"
1999	Holy Joe	Joe Cass	CBS TV film
1999	It Came from the Sky	Donald Bridges	TV film
1999	Lethal Vows	Dr. David Farris	CBS TV film
2000	Chicago Hope	Joe Dysmerski	Episode: "Simon Sez"
2000	Batman Beyond	Dr. David Wheeler (Voice)	Episode: "The Last Resort"
2000	Family Law	Father Andrews	Episode: "Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law"
2000 to 2003	Clifford the Big Red Dog	Clifford	Voice
2000 to 2002	Felicity	Mr. Andrew Covington	7 episodes
2001	Tucker	Marty	Episode: "Homewrecker for the Holidays"
2002	The Ellen Show	Percy Moss	Episode: "Gathering Moss"
2002	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Dr. Richard Manning	Episode: "Monogamy"
2002	Breaking News	Lloyd Fuchs	Episode: "Pilot"
2002	Scrubs	Sam Dorian	2 episodes
2002 to 2003	8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter	Paul Hennessey	31 episodes (until his death)

Awards and nominations

Chlotrudis Awards

• 1997: Nominated, "Best Supporting Actor" – Sling Blade

DVD Exclusive Awards

• 2003: Nominated, "Best Audio Commentary, Library Release" – High Noon (shared w/Maria Copper & Tim Zinnemann)

Daytime Emmy Awards

• 2001: Nominated, "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" – Clifford the Big Red Dog
• 2002: Nominated, "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" – Clifford the Big Red Dog
• 2003: Nominated, "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" – Clifford the Big Red Dog
• 2004: Nominated, "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" – Clifford the Big Red Dog

Emmy Awards

• 1978: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" – Three's Company
• 1981: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" – Three's Company
• 1984: Won, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" – Three's Company
• 1988: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" – Hooperman
• 1999: Nominated, "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" – Ally McBeal
• 2004: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" – 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter

Golden Globe Awards

• 1979: Nominated, "Best TV Actor in a Musical/Comedy" – Three's Company
• 1980: Nominated, "Best TV Actor in a Musical/Comedy" – Three's Company
• 1984: Won, "Best TV Actor in a Musical/Comedy" – Three's Company
• 1987: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television" – Unnatural Causes
• 1988: Nominated, "Best TV Actor in a Musical/Comedy" – Hooperman

People's Choice Awards

• 1988: Won, "Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Program" – Hooperman

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 1997: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by a Cast" – Sling Blade (shared w/co-stars)

Hollywood Walk of Fame

• 1983: "Star on the Walk of Fame" – 6627 Hollywood Boulevard; he and Tex Ritter were the first father-and-son pair to be so honored in different categories.

Further reading

• Yasbeck, Amy (2010). With Love and Laughter, John Ritter. ISBN 978-1-4165-9841-1.

External links

• John Ritter at IMDb
• John Ritter at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Ritter at Find a Grave
• John Ritter at Emmys.com