Boy, talk about a jaw dropper. I mean, Johnny Cash wasn’t look any too good recently…which is not to say his death isn’t depressing, but it’s not a total shock. But John Ritter, taking ill right on the set of his series and dying shortly thereafter? What a crying shame. From all accounts an extremely nice guy, a thorough professional, in the midst of a career comeback…and boom.
Heck, I still remember him from the dramedy “Hooperman,” in which his character convinced a suicidal jumper not to jump by dropping a watermelon from the ledge, pointing at the smashed and pulped remains, and saying, “Is that really what you want to wind up looking like?”
bin Laden survives bombings, John Ritter drops dead. I’m reminded of the line from “The Princess Bride”: No one ever said life was fair. It’s jus fairer than death, that’s all.
PAD
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Ain’t that the truth, RIP Jack Tripper. I always remembered his performance in the tv movie about L. Frank Baum.
I agree. Johnny Cash, by all accounts, lived a rich and fulfilling, if somewhat tumultuous, life. John’s seemed to be on a career upswing and it seemed that he had a lot more to give. His death, so sudden and unexpected, is a reminder that there’s no set limit on life and that one shouldn’t leave for tomorrow what they can do today. I can think of few things that are as tragic or moreso than a life unfulfilled.
That scene from Hooperman regarding the watermelon has always stuck with me, too (as well as the following scene when another jumper hated watermelon and Hooperman had to come up with a different bit).
One of the things I regret most about Ritter’s career is that he received so little credit for his dramatic prowess. My favorite of his works was a TV-movie called “Unnatural Causes,” where he played a Vietnam vet dying of Agent Orange poisoning.
A message out to Mr. Ritter: You came and knocked on heaven’s door far too soon. You were one of America’s most beloved actors, and we wish you rest.
I recently interviewed an actress who worked with Mr. Ritter during his “Three’s Company” days. She had nothing but nice things to say about him (and was quite a fan of “8 Simple Rules”). From all accounts, he was a genuinely nice person.
The New York Times had an interview with him and Henry Winkler when they appeared in a play together. Mr. Ritter commented on the injustice of John Lennon, a man who sang “Give Peace a Chance,” being shot down like a dog in the street. It *does* strike you as unfair as how often people just don’t receive the endings they deserve.
The Times also had a piece about Mr. Ritter, flush from the success of “8 Simple Rules,” out with his loving wife and kids at the New York restaurant Serendipity. He joked with fellow patrons and was nothing but gracious. Ðámņìŧ, he deserved to enjoy more of that.
I almost feel guilty going home to my empty apartment tonight.
Even worse, his wife, Amy Yasbeck, now has his death and the terrorist tragedy to remember every year on their daughter’s birthday. Yep, Sept. 11 is Stella Ritter’s birthday. Amy’s is today.
Whew.
-Joe (who also liked John in Hearts Afire)
well what amazed me is that he could do stupid silly characters as well as seemingly deep scary characters as well.
not a whole lot of actors can convivently pull that off imo.
and he was also on Buffy if I remember right.
He was indeed, RJ. He was the title character in the episode “Ted,” playing Joyce’s new flame…or should that be “spark,” given his nature on the show.
What convinced me of John Ritter’s acting talents was his performance as an actor-turned-would-be-super-hero in the 1980 film “Hero At Large.” He brought a lot of sincerity to the role, and showed that he could do more than just play a bumbling guy on a sitcom.
I enjoyed John Ritter’s performance in the television adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT”
I remember him playing a con man on an episode of Hawaii Five-O, a football coach in a wheelchair on Barnaby Jones, Three’s Company, “Hero At Large”, just remembered “Hooperman”, “Stay Tuned” (with Pam Dawber), and “Problem Child.”
He was an actor who could take an unlikely premise and make it at least interesting.
Steve Chung
Steve Chung
He was also the voice of Clifford on the PBS show. I’ve heard his voice in my home for a few years now.
A dámņ shame.
To me when i think of John ritter and all the tv and movies he did i think of a tv movie he did several years ago called Dreamer of Oz where he played L.Frank Baum. He as so good in it you forgot that it wasn’t really Baum himself. Its shame he died and my heart goes out to his family and friends and those that knew him best.
Another great role for him was the film version of NOISES OFF… the whole film is hysterical, but Ritter’s part seems just so effortless… and incredibly funny…
I think I need to dig out my laserdisc of it and give it a watch tonight…
I caught Ritter on re-runs of the Waltons some time ago. He was on that series for a year or two playing a young preacher. As usual, a good job from a much-underrated actor.
I never really liked “Three’s Company”, but I loved “Hooperman”, and lots of his other performances.
And what can I say about Johnny Cash that hasn’t been said everywhere else by this time. Like Mr. David said, it wasn’t a real surprise, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I think I’ll go listen to “American Recordings” and just thank God that we had them both as long as we did.
As I don’t watch sitcoms anymore, the last time I saw John Ritter in anything was in the William H. Macy film, PANIC. He played the therapist treating Macy’s depressed hitman.
In comedies, I’m a sneaky admirer of the astoundingly silly spy spoof, REAL MEN, which he did with James Belushi.
A real shame.
As for Johnny Cash — he recorded the first record album I ever bought for myself. I listened to “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and “The Long Black Veil” obsessively. A not unexpected loss, but a loss nonetheless.
Ritter’s is the first celebrity death to really evoke an emotion from me. I’m still a fairly young person (under 30). I remember watching in him Three’s Company when I was growing up – it was the first show I really enjoyed. I started watching it again on Nick at Nite and still find it funny. But for whatever reason, today when I think about John Ritter as an actor, I’m not thinking about his role as Jack Tripper, I’m thinking about two guest shots he did on sitcoms in the 1990’s. The first was on an episode of Dave’s World, where he told Harry Anderson and his crew they should be proud of themselves for getting out of the house and doing something for themselves again. The other episode I remember even more clearly is a spot he did for News Radio where he played a psychologist who cures everyone at the station’s problems, while he himself has a problem with sexual addiction.
Don’t know why, but all day today I’ve been reliving those two shows.
Elie
There is so little that could be added about this incredible talent. My favorite shows ever are M*A*S*H and 3’s Company, Taxi and WKRP. He not only stared in 3’s but also guested in one of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H where he played a young man suffering from shell-shock and refusing to return to his unit. Real Men is one of the funniest movies (Very PAD in the writing dept.) and if you haven’t catch a film of his called Skin Deep. You will laugh yourself sick and I can’t think of a better tribute to a sadly under-rated comic genius.
The video for “Hurt” made me cry the first time I saw it. I expect to cry even harder the next time I see it.
I get up, I turn on the TV to CNN, and the first thing I hear is that Johnny Cash and John Ritter were dead. If I could’ve, I would’ve gone right back to bed, hoping that the next time I got up they’d still be here.
Another remembrance of Hooperman: Talking with a cross-dressing ex-con John DeLancie (Q, in case you forgot) at a bar, his ridiculous dog… it was a show nobody ‘got.’ They’d call it edgy, dark, unpopular… what iw as is smart!
I’m not a big fan of JR’s “Ted” — I thought that even as a robot, he was too stiff. But his character on 8SRFDMTD has grown quite a bit, from the mug-the-camera first couple of eps to some great sitcom work.
I hope Cash is remembered for more than just ancient country music: he kept on working, and taking risks. Recording Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” is truly haunting (although for acoustic covers, I’m liking Pat (Timbuk3) Macdonald’s version more). It’s not often that the source for younger musicians’ inspiration can then turn around and become a mirror for the young upstarts to see themselves in.
When I heard about the deaths of Johnny Cash and John Ritter, I flashed back to 1990, when Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jim Henson died on the same day. The situations were the same. We had one person (Davis) who we knew was sick and were expecting to die, kind of like Cash. Then, we had another very talented, younger man who we thought had years ahead of him, suddenly gone.
Ritter was an enormously talented actor able to rise above lesser material. I still remember when he won an Emmy for THREE’S COMPANY. He looked like he was having a very hard time believing it.
I’d have to agree with Kim, I first thought of Sammy Davis Jr. and Jim Henson too. I also agree that John Ritter wasn’t appreciated for the talent that he had, but was lumped into the slapstick comedy genre and never really let out until recently. I thought he was great in *Noises Off* (I like the play more…) and on that episode of Buffy. It’s a shame that he died.
I met John Ritter and his wife Amy Yasbeck (Maid Marian from Robin Hood: Men in Tights) in October 2000 in front of the Loews Lincoln Square Theater in NYC. I was recruiting respondents for a movie screening, and saw someone with a full beard that I thought was John Ritter. He and his date went inside the lobby, and while I was mulling over whether I should go inside and introduce myself, his date came out to me to ask for movie passes for her friend. Taking them out of my folder, I looke at her, and said, “Are you Amy Yasbeck?,” and she said yes. (I had no idea they were an item, and only found out later they were married since Sept. 1999.) I gave her the passes and went inside to say hi to Mr. Ritter (I figured hey, I gave his wife some free movie passes, so maybe he wouldn’t mind), and he was very friendly. I told him that he brought a lot of laughter to me, my sister and my parents when I was a kid, and that my father still liked the reruns. He told me about an upcoming Three’s Company marathon on Nickelodeon, and I thanked him.
I was so shocked when, flipping channels early Friday morning, I came across a newflash about his death. His 55th birthday would’ve been in only 6 six days, and his fourth wedding anniversary in 7. What’s horrible is that his widow must now remember the beginning of September not only for the terror attacks, but her husband’s birthday, their wedding anniversary, and his death.
John Ritter was the Jim Carrey of his time, except that he never got the recognition or $20 million movie salaries Carrey does.
To name a couple of examples, I saw a clip from him at a 8 Simple Rules panel from last week in which the actress who plays his daughter said that she would never leave the show. John, erupting in mock tears, said, “That’s what Suzanne said!!”
Another is this anecdote at Snopes.com, an urban legends website that you can read here: http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/ritter.asp His commentary on the issue at the very end of the entry is vintage John Ritter. 🙂
Honestly(and I hope this doesn’t sound awful), I for one am glad for Cash. He loved his wife more than most will ever love anyone. They were so devoted to each other…so when she left, I expected him to go soon. He knew it was coming. He even told Kurt Loder that, though it may have been the fact that he was on MTV he wanted to die….
But Ritter…for me, it’s as if one of my friends is gone. I grew up watching him. I can remember my now departed grandmother always railing against the immorality of 3’s Company yet strangely never missing an episode….
I had forgotten he was on NewsRadio(A show that desperately needs to be on DVD).I’ve seen his M*A*S*H episode. But to me, for whatever reason, he’ll be remembered as Ted.
I could sure use a cookie.
Michael Norton
For me, when I think of Ritter, it’s Hooperman that springs to mind. I’d seen him in other work, but it’s Hooperman that I enjoyed most.
For me, when I think of Ritter, it’s Hooperman that springs to mind. I’d seen him in other work, but it’s Hooperman that I enjoyed most.
I liken Ritter’s passing to those of John Candy and Phil Hartman — a real kick in the teeth. (Although I admit, I didn’t cuss quite so much about it this time around.) I feel a sense of loss, but I tend not to grieve for celebrities like most do, but I don’t hold it against anyone if they do.
The one exception, however, was Charles Schulz… I cried when it finally sunk in that he was retiring, that Peanuts was finally wrapping up. One of my oldest and fondest memories was that of reading Snoopy and Charlie brown with my Granddad. So, while I did feel the loss when Shulz died, I sort of got it out of my system a couple of months earlier, and since the emotions were a mixture of sadness and happines, it was literally “good grief”.
I’m amazed at the number of people who really liked John Ritter. I always saw him, in most of his roles, as an amiable nice guy. People don’t like nice guys, and women especially avoid them. (Did anyone really believe Jack Tripper was a lustful skirt-chaser on “Three’s Company?”)
And that’s kind of why I didn’t warm to Ritter on “8 Simple Rules,” even though it was ABC’s most successful sitcom. The show’s predecessor, “Too Close for Comfort,” at least had an actor who could pretend to be enraged – the late Ted Knight. Ritter couldn’t be the vengeful Dad from Hëll (or Dad IN Hëll) the show wanted him to be. His basic niceness undermined the premise of the show.
It will be hard for “8 Simple Rules” to continue (as Mark Evanier noted in his own blog) because, as Clarence said, when a life goes missing it leaves an awful hole. ABC will try; the show was their only real comedy hit, and there’s nothing on its fall schedule that even has a chance of matching it. Every one of us who works at an ABC affiliate (who knows the network’s success determines the permanence of our jobs) will be watching with crossed fingers and prayers on our lips.
And if that sounds self-serving, well, I think Ritter would want his fellow actors to keep their jobs and keep up a successful series, too.
We Brits never got Three’s Company (we had the original British version, Man About The House) so the first time I saw John Ritter was in Hooperman, which was scheduled in the Sunday night graveyard slot. Great show.
Does anybody remember the TV movie in which he played Ted Bundy? Bundy was considered a pillar of the community and a heck of a nice guy. That’s why Ritter was ideal for the role.
My father is only 51. He’s in decent health; not great, not poor.
But to hear about the sudden deaths of people that had so much life yet to live, those such as Ritter, wonderful Douglas Adams, and so many others, always stops to make me think about what may (or may not) be tomorrow.
If I remember correctly who Ted Bundy was, Mark Harmon played him in the only TV movie I know of based on him.
I’m 52. My views on “dying young” have changed over the years. Ritter’s passing reminds me that even a regular physical as we get older can’t prepare us for the inevitable.
Just remember, no one’s ever come up with a more successful health plan than “The Good Die Young.”
Seconded to a lot of what was said above. Johnny Cash wasn’t surprising — not only had he been ill, but tons of people sink fast after a companion who’s been with them for that long dies. (My grandmother, for one. She lived for several years after my grandfather passed away, but only knew who any of us were the first few months of it.)
But Ritter? Ðámņ. He could play genial and goofy, and yet still creeps me out any time I catch a rerun of Buffy’s “Ted.” (Not the robot part, but the rest — something there gives me the shivers every time.)
This isn’t the double-whammy that Sammy Davis and Jim Henson was (Henson’s death is one of those moments I remember vividly), but it’s sure on the list of heavy bummers.
Rest in peace, you two.
TWL
Hey this is all very nice, but consider this–I never really liked anything Ritter did, and I’m still very, very saddened by his death… I delved into this fascinating phenomenon in my blog entry a couple of days ago, if anyone’s curious and/or shares my feelings about this…
David
John Ritter was the first celebrity death I really had to explain to my kids. My son is 11 and my daughter is 8. Up until now when a celebrity died they said “Who’s that”. But they were both Ritter fans from “8 Simple Rules”. There was genuine sadness and loss. I now have to break out my Johnny Cash albums so they can know him as well.
I don’t mean to overlook the very talented John Ritter, but, Johnny Cash’s death struck me at a nearly impossible level for being someone I never met.
The most important musician of the 20th century.
Nothing, and I do mean nothing, beats Johnny Cash and the Carter family singing “Where You There (When They Crucified My Lord)”
ABC announced on Tuesday that “8 Simple Rules…” will continue. The family will have to deal with the unexpected death of John Ritter’s character, Paul.
Somehow, I think that Ritter would want it that way.
ABC is making a HUGE mistake in killing off John’s fictional character on the show. This series is so tightly focused on the dynamic of a father’s relationship with his young kids. ABC’s plan is, obviously, to continue the series in the hopes that it will reach enough episodes for syndication. But assuming that audiences tune in to become depressed AGAIN after not only John Ritter is gone but his character also dies, who will want to watch those syndicated reruns a few years from now — when we know every time we see that lovable young father in those first season episodes that this fictional character is soon going to die? As is the case when any real family faces a death, ABC should spend more time than just 5 days before settling on what to do. Ideally, they should let the series go off the air for a few months to allow for a proper audience “grieving” period, then go the “Bewitched” route (which was proven to be SUCCESSFUL) and bring in somebody with John’s rare qualities to assume his same role. And I propose to you that that performer is Dan Akroyd.
Although I work for ABC, I can claim NO inside knowledge on what the plans are, other than to continue the show with Paul’s (John Ritter) death. As for the plan to reach enough episodes for syndication, often it takes 100 episodes for a show to make it into syndication. There’s been 1 season (24 episodes I believe) and 3 shows with Ritter. The only way for the show to make it to syndication is to continue on in a new direction. Just like life happens.
In the days since Ritter’s death, I’ve seen some recent interview/feature footage, and it’s pretty clear that his life was on a definite upswing when it ended, proffesionally and privately. He had a loving family, a hit series, and best of all he also got to participate in Ðìçk Wolf’s ongoing anti-persona program. Ever notice that the nicer an actor’s public profile, the bigger and more repellant a perv he gets to be when he guest-stars in the ‘Law & Order’ franchise? Ritter played an uber-perv, the kind of guy who hears Johnny Cash singing “Delia’s Gone”, a murder ballad, and thinks, “Goin’ a little easy on her, aren’t ya, Johnny?”
I’ve seen footage of this guy’s very last interview. However early or abrupt or tragic it may seem to the onlooker, if you’re gonna go out, what better way than on top of the heap, top of your game, top of the world, like he did?
Johnny and June, Jack and Roz. When couples are together that long, that happily, their departures tend to be spaced very close together as well. Johnny was suffering in ways I can only imagine, and now that suffering’s over. RIP.