John Ritter Biography

Fast Facts

• His widow, Amy Yasbeck, created the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health shortly after his death to honor his memory and help support education and research on thoracic aortic disease, the same disease that took Ritter's life
• A mural of John Ritter at Hollywood High School painted by Eloy Torrez was dedicated to his memory in 2008
• Majored in psychology and minored in architecture at the University of Southern California, but during his college education, he was already traveling the world to perform in plays
• Quote: "I was the class clown, but I was also student body president in high school․"
• Quote: "(Describing his time on "Three's Company") "When the curtain went up, no matter how long you've studied or haven't studied at all, you had to answer to the audience․ We didn't do retakes․ If there was a [microphone] boom in the shot, so be it․""
• Best known for roles that relied on slapstick comedy, especially the part of Jack Tripper on the sitcom "Three's Company․"
• Reinvented himself as a serious dramatic actor on the big and small screens in the 1990s
• Died in the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, the same hospital in which he was born
• Joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity while attending college
• Was a Boy Scout, though he never became an Eagle Scout