Best known as the loose-limbed klutz Jack Tripper from the strike ABC sitcom Three's Company, John Ritter also had a long (if undistinguished) film over career, dating back to the early '70s. Peradventure attractive a cue from Robin Williams, Ritter fashioned a full beard when he store his slapstick days behind him, remaking himself as a dour stirring actor both on television and in the movies in the 1990s. Ritter was born in Burbank, CA, on September 17, 1948, the supporter son of Wes... tern singing stars Tex Ritter and Dorothy Fay, whose propensity for song he once admitted he did not be. Ritter was grade portion president at Hollywood High School before enrolling at the University of Southern California, where he majored in psychology and minored in architecture. In his third year, he decided to carry off a drama importance taught by Nina Foch, and quickly changed his major, graduating in 1971. (He later studied with Stella Adler and the Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop.) His first film role was in the 1971 film The Barefoot Executive.

Lad roles during the 1970s lastly gave speed to major celebrity in 1977, when Ritter was chuck as the pratfalling roommate of two incomparable Southern Californian women on Three's Company. The program became one of the most in demand on the sense, known for its farcical scenarios based on wild misunderstandings, some of which were fueled by Ritter's Jack Tripper pretending to be gay to leave off the hotelier. Ritter was praised for the benefit of his nasty timing and rubbery ability to bounce around the set on account of all contrast of physical comedy. His manipulate earned him an Emmy.

Having behoove a prime video receiver star, Ritter enjoyed the program's success through 1985, when its spin- (Three's a Swarm) went misled the air. He worked on TV movies during the a spectacle of's go after, and found more TV mix awaiting him upon its conclusion (the dramedy Hooperman in 1988, the comedy Hearts Afire in 1992). His familiar countenance and goofball shtick earned him leads in a handful of lesser picture comedies in the late '80s and early '90s, including Real Men (1987), Lamina Deep (1988), Head-stay Tuned (1992), and two Disturbed Child films (1990 and 1991), on the keep back b annul of which he met approaching wife Amy Yasbeck. Not satisfied with his waggish pigeonholing, Ritter took well-received strides toward drama in the 1990s.

He made a lasting impression on critics as a gay dollar-store owner in Billy Bob Thornton's Chuck Blade (1996), as all right as a psychiatrist treating a hitman in Henry Bromell's Scare (2000). Ritter has also made recurring guest appearances on the hit television programs Ally McBeal and Felicity, the latter of which cast him in the agonizing lines of a time relapsing wino father. In 2002 Ritter returned to idiot box in his own different comedy series, 8 Uncontrived Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter. Nonetheless the screen proved a coy ascendancy, Ritter's sudden death due to aortic dissection in early September of 2003 left castmates and fans resembling shocked and gravely saddened.