TV Icons: John Ritter

By Missy Armstrong on January 8th, 2010

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John Ritter was born September 17, 1948, as Jonathan Southworth Ritter, in Burbank, California. John was born into the entertainment industry; his mother was Dorothy Fay, an actress, and his father was famed singing cowboy Tex Ritter. John attended the University of Southern California where he majored in psychology with a minor in architecture. But the acting bug got a hold of John.

John Ritter was married twice. His first was actress Nancy Morgan. They married in 1977 and divorced 1996. The second was to actress Amy Yasbeck in 1999. Yasbeck had played his wife or love interest in the first two Problem Child movies. Ritter and Morgan had three children: Carly, Tyler, and Jason. John and Yasbeck had one daughter, Stella.

Ritter started his career on stage. His first taste of stardom came with the role that would make him a household name. In 1977, John Ritter starred in the pilot of Three’s Company. His unforgettable portrayal of Jack Tripper would be perhaps his most memorable and beloved role. After the show ended in 1984, John continued the role in the short lived sitcom Three’s a Crowd. While doing Three’s Company, he also appeared in the feature films Hero at Large and They All Laughed. In John played Ringo Starr’s manager on the television special Ringo. Before Three’s Company, he appeared in some lesser roles. John played the Reverend Matthew Fordwick on the first few seasons of The Waltons. He was a patient in one episode of M*A*S*H in 1973.

After Three’s Company John Ritter did a number of feature films, such as Problem Child, Skin Deep, Hooperman, Heart’s Afire, and Sling Blade. He also starred in many made for TV movies. Your children may recognize John’s voice as Clifford the Big Red Dog, a roll for which he had two Emmy nominations.

In 2002, John made a comeback on ABC’s 8 Simple Roles for Dating My Teenage Daughter. His character, Paul Hennessy, was said to have died after collapsing in a grocery store. The network aired the three episodes of Season 2 that had been taped before his death. The remainder of the show’s season dealt with the family surviving after the death of a father.  September 11, 2003 John felt sick while rehearsing 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. He was taken to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he died later that evening, around 10:45pm -PST. The cause of his death was an aortic dissection caused by a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. John Ritter is buried at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Following Ritter’s death, Amy Yasbeck, John’s widow, filed a $67 million wrongful death suit against radiologist Dr. Matthew Lotysch and cardiologist Dr. Joseph Lee. Lee treated John husband on the day of his death. Lotysch, had given him a full-body scan two years earlier. The trial began on February 11, 2008, in Los Angeles County Superior Court. On March 14, 2008, the defendants were found not responsible for Ritter’s death.