John Ritter

One of the most popular TV stars of the late-1970s, John Ritter enjoyed a diverse career right up until his tragic death in 2003. The son of famed country-western star Tex Ritter, he first emerged with dozens of small television guest spots, including a recurring role as the serious-minded Reverend Fordwick on "The Waltons" (CBS, 1971-1981). Ritter rose to fame on the small screen as the irascible, klutzy Jack Tripper on the hit sitcom "Three's Company" (ABC, 1977-1984), where his boyish charm and affinity for physical comedy made him an audience favorite.

While television projects like "Hooperman" (ABC, 1987-89) and "Hearts Afire" (CBS, 1992-95) provided moderate success, it was Ritter's transformative performance in close friend Billy Bob Thornton's drama "Sling Blade" (1996) that garnered the actor a level of professional respect he had not previously enjoyed. With his career invigorated, Ritter moved on to a slew of supporting film roles and TV guest appearances until the family sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" (ABC, 2002-05) once again provided him a showcase for his inimitable comedic skills. Although his untimely death cut short his still vibrant life and career, the beloved actor lived on in the memories of the friends, family and the audiences he entertained for decades.

He was born Jonathan Southworth Ritter in Burbank, CA, on Sept. 17, 1948, to actress Dorothy Fay and pioneering country musician and "singing cowboy" movie star, Tex Ritter. A middle boy, Ritter also had an older brother Tom, who suffered from cerebral palsy, a disease that would play heavily into the comic's later charitable work. It may also have informed the mix of public consciousness and entertainment engendered in his two professed idols, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and comic Jerry Lewis. He attended Hollywood High School, where he was elected student body president.

While he matriculated at the University of Southern California, he selected psychology as a major. It was not until Ritter took a class taught by renowned acting teacher Nina Foch that his path crystallized. He switched his major to theater arts, cut his teeth with a stage debut at Scotland's Edinburgh Festival in 1968, graduated in 1971 with a Fine Arts degree in drama, and went on to study with legendary acting teacher Stella Adler at the Harvey Lembeck Comedy workshop.

Ritter quickly racked up an impressive résumé for an aspiring actor, with some early supporting movie roles and, soon, a kaleidoscope of broadcast network TV guest shots. He earned his first TV role in a guest-starring capacity on the short-lived Burt Reynolds cop series "Dan August" (ABC, 1970) and a supporting role the next year in one of Disney's then-popular live-action romps, "The Barefoot Executive" (1971). The following years would see him become an on-call guest star for what became a who's who of signature seventies shows, including "M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-1983), "Kojak" (CBS, 1973-78), "The Bob Newhart Show" (CBS, 1972-78), "Barnaby Jones" (CBS, 1973-1980), "The Streets of San Francisco" (ABC, 1972-78), "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (CBS, 1970-77), "Starsky and Hutch" (ABC, 1975-79), "Rhoda" (CBS, 1974-78) and "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980). He scored his first recurring role on a series as the joyless young minister Reverend Fordwick on CBS' slice of depression-era life, "The Waltons" (1972-1981).

Ritter's leap to his own signature 1970s TV stint would land 180 degrees from Rev. Fordwick. In 1976, ABC programming chief Fred Silverman greenlit producer Don Taffner's proposed adaptation of Thames Television's U.K. hit "Man About the House" (ITV, 1973-76), and Silverman, himself familiar with Ritter's "Waltons" work, requested he read for the lead. Ritter was working with Oscar-winning director Peter Bogdanovich in the latter's movie "Nickelodeon" (1976) when he landed the audition, and Bogdanovich said he hoped he would not get the part, remarking "What if it's a hit? I'll never be able to use you again!" Unfortunately for the director, Ritter landed the part of the randy, goofy yet boyishly charming culinary school student living platonically with two attractive women.

The shenanigans that ensued in order to keep Jack's secret in spite of his horndog inclinations struck a chord with audiences. The show hit No. 11 in network primetime ratings in its first season; a signal win for the long-underperforming ABC. Anchored by Ritter's disarming prowess at physical comedy, the show then bounced up to No. 3 for the 1977-78 season.

Back on set of "Three's Company," a new dynamic was emerging. Yes, John Ritter was still receiving his share of applause from the studio audience, but Somers was quickly becoming the fan and media favorite. This reversal of fortunes would soon mire the show in the most tabloid-enabling showbiz flap of the era. The show scored ABC the No. 1 and No. 2 slot in the Nielsen ratings in the 1978-79 and 1979-1980 seasons, respectively, but with contract re-negotiations beginning in 1980, Somers and her husband-manager, Alan Hamel, decided her popularity as the show's sex symbol rated a bigger stake than the her two co-stars.

Not wanting to lose Ritter, ABC greenlit a final Jack Tripper chapter - the longtime buffoon finally falls in love and spins off to the new show "Three's A Crowd" (1984-85). Ensuing years would see similar network attempts to field Ritter vehicles, mostly in a romantic comedy vein, but nothing quite stuck.

When not taping, he filled out his work schedule with a raft of lead roles in feature and made-for-TV movies, most notably Blake Edwards' ribald 1989 romp, "Skin Deep" - best known for Ritter's glow-in-the-dark condom scene - "The Dreamer of Oz: the L. Frank Baum Story" (NBC, 1990); ABC's ambitious miniseries treatment of Stephen King's "It" (1990); a reunion with Bogdanovich for his 1992 farce "Noises Off;" and two notable B-level comedies, "Problem Child (1990) and "Problem Child 2" (1992), in which he played the earnest, well-meaning surrogate dad to a son seemingly the spawn of hell.

"Slingblade" would lead him to pepper his TV work with prominent supporting roles in a broad menu of movies, including the camp horror flick "Bride of Chucky" (1998), indie black comedy "Panic" (2000) and coming-of-age indie charmer "Tadpole" (2002). He expanded his repertoire further in 2000 by becoming the voice of "Clifford, the Big Red Dog" (2000-03) in PBS' series adaptation of the children's classic, for which he would be nominated for a Daytime Emmy every year of its run.

Never a critical favorite, "8 Simple Rules" performed well enough to be renewed. The following fall, Ritter welcomed Winkler to the show's set on Disney's Burbank lot for a guest shot on the season's fourth episode. On Sept. 11, 2003, while running lines with Winkler, Ritter felt fatigued, began to sweat and excused himself. It worsened to nausea and vomiting. Winkler later heard his old friend had gone home sick. In fact, Ritter was taken to the nearby Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed a heart attack.

After the cast of "8 Simple Rules" was informed of their star's shocking death while still on set and word of his passing reached news outlets, virtually the entire town went into mourning. Not only were they forced to deal with the death of a man they all adored, they also had no idea what was now to become of their show. ABC, after some deliberation, aired Ritter's first three episodes of the season, then dealt with the tragedy on-air, continuing the show as the renamed "8 Simple Rules," starting with the family dealing with Paul Hennessey's sudden death before bringing in other actors like James Garner and David Spade to try to fill the void.

Ritter appeared posthumously as an uptight department store manager in the Billy Bob Thornton black comedy "Bad Santa" (2003) and via voiceover in "Clifford's Really Big Movie" (2004). The following year, Ritter received a posthumous Emmy nomination for "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

Yasbeck received $14 million in initial settlements over her husband's death, including from the hospital, but her $67 million suit over the misdiagnosis, brought to Los Angeles County Superior Court in early 2008, failed to convince a jury of negligence on the part of the attending doctors; particularly on the doctor who had conducted a body scan on Ritter in 2001 but failed to detect the condition. Adding to Ritter's legacy was Jason Ritter, his eldest son by Nancy Morgan, who had already scored roles in such films as "Swimfan (2002) and "Freddy vs. Jason" (2003) while his father was alive, and was starting on his first network series, "Joan of Arcadia" (CBS, 2003-05) at the time his death. The young Ritter would go on to land a starring role on the network's short-lived comedy "The Class" (2006-07) as well as continue to hone his comic and dramatic abilities in film and on television.