Matinee Classics - John Ritter Biography & Filmography

John Ritter ACTOR

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JOHN RITTER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

John Ritter was born on September 17th, 1948 in Burbank, California with the birth name Jonathan Southworth Ritter. His mother, Dorothy Fay was a working actress and his father, Tex Ritter was a singing cowboy and western movie actor. After Ritter earned his high school diploma from Hollywood High he enrolled at the University of Southern California and earned a major in psychology and a minor in architecture.

He had always had an interest in the performing arts especially growing up in a family with both parents involved in the entertainment industry. While still pursuing his college degree he also performed in a number of stage productions in England, Scotland, Germany and Holland.

Upon earning a college degree, Ritter chose to pursue a fulltime career as an actor. He began with appearing on the television series, "Dan August" (1970) starring Burt Reynolds, followed by roles on the series, "Medical Center" (1973), "M*A*S*H*" (1973), "Rhoda" (1975-1976), "Hawaii Five-O" (1971-1977) and "The Waltons" (1972-1976) starring Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, Will Geer and Ellen Corby.

He was soon cast in one of his most memorable roles on the sitcom, "Three's Company" (1976-1984) portraying Jack Tripper for a total of 174 episodes and starring with Joyce Dewitt, Suzanne Somers, Jenilee Harrison, Don Knotts, Audra Lindley and Norman Fell. When this series came to an end, Ritter was cast as a regular on another television series, "Hooperman" (1987-1989) portraying Detective Harry Hooperman. For his performances, he received an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination and was awarded a people's Choice Award. Ritter, again was lucky enough to get cast as a regular on another hit series television show, "Hearts Afire" (1992-1995) starring with Markie Post and Billy Bob Thornton and portraying John Hartman.

Along with his experience as a television and stage actor, Ritter was cast in his first film, Walt Disney's "The Barefoot Executive" (1971) starring Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox, Heather North and Harry Morgan, which soon followed with roles in such films as, "Problem Child" (1990) co-starring Amy Yasbeck, Gilbert Gottfried, Jack Warden, Michael Richards and Michael Oliver, "Sling Blade" (1996) also starring Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton and Robert Duvall, "Noises Off" (1992) with Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve, Marilu Henner, Nicolette Sheridan, Julie Hagerty and Denholm Elliott, Blake Edwards "Skin Deep" (1989) with Vincent Gardenia, Nina Foch and Alyson Reed, "Nowhere" (1997) starring James Duvall, Rachel True, Heather Graham, Ryan Phillippe, Mena Suvari, Kathleen Robertson and Denise Richards, "Montana" (1998) with Kyra Sedgwick and Stanley Tucci, "Panic" (2000) co-starring William H. Macy, Neve Campbell, Donald Sutherland, Barbara Bain and Tracey Ullman, "Man of the Year" (2002) and his last known film role, "Bad Santa" (2003) starring Billy Bob Thornton, Bernie Mac, Lauren Graham, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom and Cloris Leachman and which was not released until after John's death.

In addition, Ritter added to his credits voiceover work on the films, "Clifford, the Big Red Dog", "The Flight of Dragons" and "Great Uncle Stew". He also worked on numerous television movies such as, "My Brothers Wife" (1989), "Heartbeat" (1993), "The Colony" (1995), "It Came from the Sky" (1999) and "Lethal Vows" (1999).

Although he was highly successful as a film and television actor, Ritter did not neglect his first love, stage acting. In 2000, he performed in a production of, "The Dinner Party" which ran for 364 performances and he earned a Theatre World Award for his work.

Some of his latest roles focused on mainly television series appearances such as, "Rucker", "Scrubs", "Law & Order" and "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter".

John Ritter was married twice, first to actress Nancy Morgan whom he wed in 1977 and had three children with before the marriage ended in divorce in 1996. He then married another actress, Amy Yasbeck in 1999 and together they had one child.

In 2003, while rehearsing on set for the series, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" John Ritter, became very sick and was taken to the hospital where that evening, he passed away on September 11th, 2003 in Burbank, California. His death was ruled as aortic dissection, which was a flaw to his heart that had gone un-detected. His remains were interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

His wife went through a number of law schools with doctors and hospitals blaming them for not detecting his condition in earlier exams. She later started a charity to educate schools on this type of condition.

Since the series was still filming, it was later re-titled, "8 Simple Rules" and aired for two more seasons before being cancelled. Since his passing besides his honor or receiving a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to his father's star, Ritter was also honored with an Emmy nomination for his work on, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" and a mural of Ritter was also painted at Hollywood High School in his memory.