This article is about the American actor. For other people with the same name, see John Ritter (disambiguation).
John Ritter
Ritter in 1977
Born
Johnathan 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
Aortic dissection
Resting place
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
Alma mater
University of Southern California
Occupation
Actor
Years active
1968–2003
Known for
Three's Company Three's a Crowd
Spouses
Nancy Morgan
(m. 1977; div. 1996)
Amy Yasbeck
(m. 1999)
Children
4, including Jason and Tyler
Parents
Tex Ritter (father)
Dorothy Fay (mother)
Johnathan Southworth Ritter[1][2] (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984), and received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1984. Ritter briefly reprised the role on the spin-off Three's a Crowd, which aired for one season, producing 22 episodes before its cancellation in 1985.
He appeared in over 100 films and television series combined and performed on Broadway, with roles including adult Ben Hanscom in It (1990), Problem Child (1990), Problem Child 2 (1991), a dramatic turn in Sling Blade (1996), and Bad Santa in 2003 (his final live action film, which was dedicated to his memory). In 2002, Don Knotts called Ritter the "greatest physical comedian on the planet". His final roles include voicing the title character on the PBS children's program Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000–2003), for which he received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and as Paul Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules (2002–2003).
^Martin, Douglas (September 13, 2003). "John Ritter, 54, the Odd Man In 'Three's Company,' Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2008.
^Braxton, Greg; King, Susan (September 13, 2003). "John Ritter, 54; Versatile Star of 'Three's Company,' '8 Simple Rules'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father...
Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor. The son of JohnRitter and Nancy Morgan, he is known for his work in television series...
Thomas Ritter (born January 31, 1985) is an American actor who starred as Ronny McCarthy on The McCarthys. Ritter is the son of actor JohnRitter and brother...
the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son JohnRitter, grandsons Jason Ritter and Tyler Ritter, and granddaughter Carly). He is a member...
Morgan also made a guest appearance in Ritter's television series Hooperman. Morgan married actor JohnRitter in 1977, and they had three children: Jason...
You Smarter than a 5th Grader? in 2010. Yasbeck is the widow of actor JohnRitter, with whom she had worked in several projects. She first met him at director...
singer/actor Tex Ritter on June 14, 1941; the marriage ended with his death on January 2, 1974. They had two sons, Thomas and John. Among her grandchildren...
friend, actor JohnRitter, whom he first met in 1978 at ABC's 25th anniversary party, when Winkler was still on Happy Days, and Ritter was Jack Tripper...
Lives in 'Ritter Rules'". CBS News. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016. "Ritter Rules". The JohnRitter Foundation...
Teenage Daughter) is an American television sitcom originally starring JohnRitter and Katey Sagal as middle-class parents Paul and Cate Hennessy, raising...
when he was 12 years old. It also stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, JohnRitter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall. The...
Three's Company co-star, JohnRitter, reconciled their friendship after 20 years of not speaking to each other, shortly before Ritter's death in 2003. Somers...
Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, John Ritter, and Bernie Mac. It was Ritter's last live-action film appearance before his death on September...
Paul Adams (20 December 1966 – 5 April 2021), known professionally as Paul Ritter, was an English actor. He had roles in films including Son of Rambow (2007)...
Sagal was cast as the wife of JohnRitter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. Ritter had completed only three episodes...
created by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. Jack was played by the actor JohnRitter. Janet, another character in the show, reasoned with the landlord, Stanley...
easily integrated himself into the already established cast who were, as JohnRitter put it, "so scared" of Knotts because of his star status. When Suzanne...
anecdotes about the last time they each spoke to their late co-star JohnRitter. DeWitt's appearance on Somers' program marked the first time the two...
in the Child's Play franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, JohnRitter, Katherine Heigl, and Nick Stabile. Unlike the first three films, Bride...
orphan boy who deliberately wreaks comedic havoc everywhere he goes. JohnRitter returns as his adopted father, Ben Healy. Amy Yasbeck, who played Ben's...
Judgment (1988), and starred opposite Chevy Chase in Fletch Lives and JohnRitter in Skin Deep both in 1989. Two years later, she accepted the role of...
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