John Ritter's Biography

    Johnathan Southworth Ritter was born on September 17, 1948. His parents were the legendary country singer and actor, Tex Ritter and actress Dorothy Fay.   The couple's first son, Tom Ritter, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, became a lawyer. John however, decided to follow in the footsteps of his parents. Tex cautioned his son and warned him about show business and at first, John took his father�s advice. He was enrolled in Hollywood High School where he became student body president. After he graduated, he attended the University of Southern California where he majored in psychology and minored in architecture.
In 1966, John made his very first appearance on television on �The Dating Game� on which he won a vacation to Acapulco, Mexico. After making this appearance on television and a couple years of school, John decided to enroll in an acting class. He changed his major to Theater Arts and graduated in 1971 with a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama. Between 1968 and 1969 he appeared in stage plays in England, Scotland, Holland and Germany.
     John's acting debut occurred when he guest starred on an episode of �Hawaii Five-O�. Shortly after, John also guest starred in an episode of �Dan August� with Burt Reynolds and Norman Fell, who would later co-star with him on the classic 1970�s sitcom, �Three�s Company�. Afterwards, John guest starred on �The Waltons� as a young preacher named Matthew Fordwick, which later became a permanent role. He continued making more guest appearances on many other shows. John�s father soon realized that his son had an amazing amount of talent and was happy that John took up acting. Unfortunately, while John was working on �The Waltons� in 1974, his father passed away. This is a shame because his father never really had the chance to see his son�s acting career take off.
     In 1975, ABC got the rights to a new series, �Three�s Company� based on the British Sitcom, �A Man About The House�. John beat out fifty people including a young Billy Crystal to get the main role. In the first pilot, John�s character was David Bell, a student studying filmmaking. He co-starred with actresses Valerie Kurtin as Jenny, and Suzan Zenor as Samantha. After the first pilot failed, Joyce DeWitt was hired to play Janet Wood and Susan Lanier got the part of Chrissy Snow. This pilot did better than the first, but the producers felt that they needed a different actress to play Chrissy. Suzanne Somers was introduced to the cast at the last minute and John�s character was changed to the lovable bachelor Jack Tripper, who was studying to become a chef. The filming of the third �Three�s Company� pilot was shot. It was a success, and on March 15, 1977, �Three�s Company� premiered on network television. It debuted as a mid-season replacement and was instantly a hit. The show focused on the life of the three roommates but in order for Jack to live in this apartment with two single, attractive women, he had to pretend to be gay.
     Also in 1977, John and his brother Tom ran the Annual United Cerebral Palsy Telethon and made millions of dollars for the cause in the 15+ years that they ran the telethon. In 1980, "Three�s Company� was sold into syndication and the ratings flew in the series� last two years. John won a Golden Globe Award in 1983 for Best Performance by an Actor after being nominated twice for Best TV Actor in a Musical-Comedy Series. One year later John won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series after being nominated twice. By �Three�s Company�s eighth season, the ratings had significantly dropped leading to the sitcom�s cancellation in 1984. However, John went on to star in a spin-off from �Three�s Company� entitled �Three�s A Crowd� which co-starred Mary Cadorette as Vicky; Jack's live in girlfriend (whom we met at the end of "Three's Company�).
     In 1986, John did his first animation movie entitled, �The Flight of Dragons� in which he played the voice of Peter Dickinson. Then in 1987 John did another television series entitled, �Hooperman� in which he played detective Harry Hooperman. He was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe in 1988 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and won a People�s Choice Awards for this role.
During and after his role on �Hooperman� John continued doing more box office movies from 1987-1992 before returning to yet another role in a television series entitled �Hearts Afire�. The show had well written scripts, but unfortunately didn�t attract the public causing it to be cancelled in 1995 after 3 seasons.
In 1996 John worked with former �Hearts Afire" co-star Billy Bob Thorton in the movie �Sling Blade�, in which John played the role of a gay manager of a department store. Thorton wrote this part especially for John. He directed the movie as well.
     John continued doing many different roles including the voice in an animated children series, �Clifford the Big Red Dog� in 2000. In 2002, he landed his last television role in �8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter�. In this sitcom, his character's name was Paul Hennessey, a loving Dad that laid down the ground rules for his children. The show was a hit from the beginning, won a People�s Choice Award for Best New Comedy and also won for Favorite Comedy Series by the Family Awards.

Note: This biography was not taken from any other website. It is written by me, and MAY NOT be used without my permission, thank you.