John Ritter, 54, led animated life

Posted:
Sep 12, 2003

John Ritter, the TV star who rose to fame as mugging, pratfalling bachelor Jack Tripper on the 1970s hit series Three's Company, died Thursday night after falling ill on the set of his comeback situation comedy, ABC's 8 Simple Rules...For Dating My Teenage Daughter.

According to his publicist, Lisa Kasteler, the cause of death was a tear in the aorta, the result of an unrecognized flaw in his heart. Ritter died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California shortly after 10 p.m., six days before his 55th birthday.

Both Jonathan Southworth Ritter in Burbank on September 17, 1948, he was the youngest son of legendary Western film star and country musician Tex Ritter and actress Dorothy Fay.

Beyond his prolific career as a performer on live-action television series, TV-movies, films and Broadway shows, Ritter built up a large body of voiceover work in animation. He also had a long association with Walt Disney Studios as a live performer and special guest.

Ritter voiced the title role in Scholastic Entertainment Inc.'s Clifford the Big Red Dog, which ran for 132 episodes on PBS from 2000 until February this year. (The last two episodes, Special T-Bone and Getting to Know You, aired February 25.)

For his role as Clifford, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy three times in a row since 2001 for "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program." The series is known as Scholastic Clifford on cable TV in Asia. Ritter's other continuing role in an animated series was much shorter. He was the voice of Inspector Gill in Hanna-Barbera's Fish Police, which aired for only three episodes on CBS in 1992 until its cancellation. Three other episodes had been prepared, but were broadcast only in a German-dubbed version in Europe.

As a guest star in The Son That Got Away, a November 23, 1997 episode of the Film Roman series King of the Hill (broadcast on Fox), he portrayed "Eugene Grandy, Music Teacher." He provided a voice on another episode of the series, What Makes Bobby Run?, released on December 10, 2000.

His was also the voice of Dr. David Wheeler in The Last Resort, a March 4, 2000 episode of the Warner Bros. Television Animation series Batman Beyond, which aired on Kids WB.

His work as Jack Tripper in Three's Company (1977-1984) earned him an Emmy for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" in 1984, along with nominations in 1978 and 1981. His role continued in a sequel, Three's a Crowd (1984).

Ritter gained new popularity as dad Paul Hennessey in 8 Simple Rules...For Dating My Teenage Daughter, which went on the air in 2002, and which was scheduled to start its second season September 23. Ironically, his first screen appearance was as a bachelor in a 1967 episode of The Dating Game.

Ritter's first recorded TV acting appearance was as a "campus revolutionary" in a 1970 episode of Dan August. His first continuing role was as Rev. Matthew Fordwick from 1973 to 1976 in The Waltons.

Other TV roles for Ritter included Detective Harry Hooperman in Hooperman (1987), John Hartman in Hearts Afire (1992) and Andrew Covington in Felicity (2000-2002).

Ritter's first motion picture roles were in two Walt Disney Pictures films, both released in 1971. He portrayed snobbish nephew Roger in The Barefoot Executive and Wandell in Scandalous John.

He also appeared as himself in Donald Duck's 50th Birthday, a Disney TV special broadcast on CBS in 1984. He also guested as himself in the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park Grand Opening (1989) and in last year's Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.

In June, the Los Angeles Music Center presented him with a lifetime achievement award.

He appears alongside Billy Bob Thornton as the mall manager in the Miramax film Bad Santa, scheduled for release in November.

From 1977 to 1996, he was married to Nancy Morgan, the mother of his three oldest children, Jason, Carly and Tyler. In 1999, he married actress Amy Yasbeck, the mother of Stella. At the hospital where he died, Ritter was accompanied by producers and co-workers, his wife and Jason.

"It's just stunning, unbelievable," his longtime assistant, Susan Wilcox, said. "Whatever set he was working on, he made it a very fun place."

"It's like there is a big tear in the world's heart," actor Henry Winkler told Entertainment Tonight. "He was extraordinary in every aspect of his life, especially as a father. His children were there at every moment of his life."

"I cannot find words to express my sorrow — such a great loss to the joy in the world," Joyce DeWitt, who co-starred with Ritter and Suzanne Somers in Three's Company, told ET. And in a tearful interview on Fox's Good Day Live, Somers said that she had reconciled with Ritter after arguing over money demands on Three's Company.

"I learned so much from him. He was the best physical comic I've ever watched," she said.

"All of us at ABC, Touchstone Television and The Walt Disney Company are shocked and heartbroken at the terrible news of John's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children at this very difficult time," ABC said in a statement.

"He never aspired to be Hamlet," recalled Tim Brooks, author of The Complete Guide to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows. "He was a true actor of the people, and television viewers really bonded with him as a result."