Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an Emmy- and Globen Globe-award winning American actor and comedian best known for his role of Jack Tripper in the sitcom Three's Company.

Career
Ritter headlined several stage performances before he was made a star by appearing in the hit 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 lived with two female roommates. Jack pretended to be homosexual to keep the landlords appeased over their living arrangement. The show spent several seasons at or near the top of the TV ratings in the U.S. before ending in 1984. Ritter went on for one more year on the spin-off Three's a Crowd. The original series has been seen continuously in reruns. It is also available on DVD. During the run of the show, he appeared in the feature films Hero At Large, Americathon, and They All Laughed. In 1978, he played Ringo Starr's manager on the television special Ringo, and in 1982, played the voice of Peter Dickinson in Flight of Dragons.
Previous to his role in Three's Company, he occasionally appeared in the first five seasons of The Waltons on CBS as the Reverend Matthew Fordwick (1972-1976). He appeared in the Charles Bronson film The Stone Killer alongside Norman Fell. He also guest starred in one episode of The Cosby Show in 1991.
After Three's Company, he appeared in a number of movies, notably Problem Child and its first sequel, Problem Child 2. He also appeared in the Academy Award-winning Sling Blade (almost unrecognizable as the discount store manager) and Noises Off. He also starred with Markie Post in the early-1990s sitcom Hearts Afire and on the 1980s police comedy-drama Hooperman.
He starred in many made-for-TV movies including It Came From the Sky in 1999 with Yasmine Bleeth and made guest appearances on TV shows such as Ally McBeal, Scrubs and Felicity. He also provided the voice for Clifford in the animated children's show Clifford the Big Red Dog, a role for which he received two Emmy nominations.
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 The Dinner Party.
In 2002, he made a TV comeback with the ABC family sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.
Ritter's final two movie roles were as the store manager in Bad Santa (2003), starring personal friend Billy Bob Thornton and Bernie Mac, and Clifford's Really Big Movie.
Ritter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Personal life

The son of singing cowboy matinee star Tex Ritter and American actress Dorothy Fay, Ritter was born in Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948. 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, majored in psychology and minored in architecture. He married twice, once to actress Nancy Morgan (married 1977-divorced 1996) and then to actress Amy Yasbeck (married 1999-his death). Yasbeck had played his wife or love interest in the first two Problem Child movies (interestingly, she played a different character in each movie). Yasbeck also played Ritter's wife in two sitcom appearances. In 1991, both were guest stars on The Cosby Show, where 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. Ritter and Morgan had three children: Carly, Tyler, and Jason. He and Yasbeck had one daughter, Stella.

Death

On September 11, 2003, Ritter became seriously ill during rehearsals for an episode of 8 Simple Rules that was to have Henry Winkler as a guest star. He was taken across the street from the studio to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he died hours later, a week before his 55th birthday, in the same hospital in which he was born. He died from an aortic dissection caused by a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect. Ritter was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter was retitled 8 Simple Rules after Ritter's death and continued for two more seasons. The first three episodes of Season 2 had been taped before his death, and were aired as a tribute to him. The fourth episode presented the backstory that his character had collapsed at the grocery store and died. The remainder of the season dealt with the family trying to grapple with their patriarch's death. New male characters, played by James Garner and David Spade, were added to fill the gap.
Ritter was posthumously honored with an Emmy nomination for 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2004. He lost to Kelsey Grammer for Frasier. Upon accepting his trophy, the first remark that Grammer made was in tribute and remembrance of John Ritter.
Ritter's last films, Bad Santa and Clifford's Really Big Movie, were dedicated in his memory. Ritter also played the father of protagonist John Dorian in the TV series Scrubs. He makes one appearance in the 19th episode of Season 1Scrubs "My Old Man". The 6th episode of Season 4, "My Cake", revolves around Dorian's father's sudden death and the episode is dedicated to Ritter. He also had an appearance in a flashback scene in the 9th episode of Season 2 entitled "My Lucky Day".

Summary of film and television work

• Hawaii Five-O (1971,1977) Guest Appearances
• M*A*S*H (1973) Guest Appearance
• The Waltons (1973-1976)
• Kojak (1974) Guest Appearance
• The Bob Newhart Show (1974) Guest Appearance
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975) Guest Appearance
• Rhoda (1976) Guest Appearance
• Starsky & Hutch (1976) Guest Appearance
• Phyllis (1976) Guest Appearance
• Three's Company (1977-1984)
• Ringo (1978)
• The Ropers (1979) Guest Appearance
• Flight of Dragons (1982) voice
• Three's a Crowd (1984-1985)
• Letting Go
• Hooperman (1987-1989)
• Problem Child (1990)
• Problem Child 2 (1991)
• The Cosby Show (1991) Guest Appearance
• Hearts Afire (1992-1995)
• Heartbeat (1993)
• The Larry Sanders Show (1993) Guest Appearance
• NewsRadio (1995) Guest Appearance
• Wings (1996) Guest Appearance
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) Guest Appearance
• Ally McBeal (1998) Guest Appearance
• Felicity Guest Appearance
• TV Funhouse (2001) Guest Appearance
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000-2003) voice
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002) Guest Appearance
• Scrubs (2002) Guest Appearance
• 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2002-2003)

Filmography

• The Other (1972)
• Nickelodeon (1976)
• Americathon (1979)
• Hero at Large (1980)
• Wholly Moses (1980)
• The Comeback Kid (1980)
• They All Laughed (1981)
• Pray TV (1982)
• In Love With An Older Woman (1982)
• Sunset Limousine (1983)
• Letting Go (1985)
• A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986)
• Unnatural Causes (1987)
• Real Men (1987)
• Tricks of the Trade (1988)
• Skin Deep (1989)
• The Last Fling (1989)
• Man Of Miracles (1989)
• Problem Child (1990)
• It (1990)
• Everybody Wins (1990)
• The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (1990)
• Problem Child 2 (1991)
• Stay Tuned (1992)
• Noises Off (1992)
• Prison for Children (1993)
• My Brother's Wife (1993)
• North (1994 in film)
• The Colony (1995)
• Mercenary (1996)
• A Child's Wish (1996)
• Nowhere (1996)
• Sling Blade (1997)
• Sink Or Swim (1997)
• A Gun, a Car, a Blonde (1997)
• Bride of Chucky (1998)
• The Million Dollar Kid (1999)
• It Came From the Sky (1999)
• Dead Husbands (1999)
• Lethal Vows (1999)
• Tripfall (2000)
• Terror Tract (2000)
• Panic (2000)
• Manhood (2002)
• Tadpole (2002)
• Bad Santa (2003) – Posthumously Released
• Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004) (voice) – Posthumously Released