Background and career
Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. He was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He played Jack Tripper on the ABC sitcom Three's Company (1977–1984), and received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the role in 1984. Ritter briefly reprised the role on the spin-off Three's a Crowd, which aired for one season, producing 22 episodes before its cancellation in 1985. He appeared in over 100 films and television series combined and performed on Broadway, with roles including adult Ben Hanscom in It (1990), Problem Child (1990), Problem Child 2 (1991), a dramatic turn in Sling Blade (1996), and Bad Santa in 2003 (his final live action film, which was dedicated to his memory). His final roles include voicing the title character on the PBS children's program Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000–2003), for which he received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and as Paul Hennessy on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules (2002–2003), a turn which garnered him a posthumous Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Johnathan Southworth Ritter was born on September 17, 1948, at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. His father, Tex Ritter (1905–1974), was a singing cowboy and film star, and his mother, Dorothy Fay (née Southworth; 1915–2003), was an actress. He had an older brother, Thomas "Tom" Ritter. Ritter attended Hollywood High School, where he was student body president. While a teenager, Ritter's right eye was permanently injured by a projectile flying into the car in which he was riding. This resulted in his right pupil having a strange appearance and only having peripheral vision in that eye for the rest of his life. Ritter attended the University of Southern California and majored in psychology with plans to have a career in politics. He changed his major to theater arts and attended the USC School of Dramatic Arts (formerly School of Theatre). Ritter was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at USC. While still in college, Ritter traveled to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and West Germany to perform in plays. Ritter graduated in 1970. Along with having theater arts at USC, he had studied acting at the Stella Adler Academy.
Ritter headlined several stage performances. After his graduation from USC in 1970, his first television acting experience was as a campus revolutionary in the television series Dan August starring Burt Reynolds and future Three's Company co-star Norman Fell. Ritter made his film debut in the 1971 Disney film The Barefoot Executive. He made guest appearances on the television series Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, and many others. He had a recurring role as the Reverend Matthew Fordwick on the drama series The Waltons from October 1972 to December 1976. Because he was not a weekly cast member, he had time to pursue other roles, which he did until December 1976, when he left for a starring role in the hit sitcom Three's Company (the Americanized version of the 1970s British series Man About the House) in 1977. In 1978, Ritter played Ringo Starr's manager on the television special Ringo. In 1982, Ritter provided the voice of Peter Dickinson in the animated film The Flight of Dragons.
Ritter became a household name on Three's Company, portraying struggling culinary student Jack Tripper with two female roommates. Ritter co-starred opposite Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers, and later Jenilee Harrison and Priscilla Barnes. Much of the comedy centered around Jack's pretending to be gay to keep the old-fashioned landlords appeased over the co-ed living arrangements. The series spent several seasons near the top of the ratings in the United States before ending in 1984. A year-long spin-off, Three's a Crowd, ensued, as the Jack Tripper character has a live-in girlfriend and runs his own bistro. During the run of Three's Company, Ritter appeared in the films Hero at Large, Americathon, and They All Laughed. In 1986, he played the role of Dad in the music video for Graham Nash's song "Innocent Eyes". Hooperman was Ritter's first regular television role after Three's Company. Detective Harry Hooperman inherits a run-down apartment building and hires Susan Smith (Debrah Farentino) to run it. In 1988, Ritter was nominated for both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his work on Hooperman. Ritter won a People's Choice Award for this role. From 1992 to 1995, Ritter returned to television for three seasons as John Hartman, aide to a U.S. Senator, in Hearts Afire. He played Garry Lejeune / Roger Tramplemain in the production Noises Off in 1992. After his time on television, he appeared in a number of films, including Problem Child and its sequel Problem Child 2. He co-starred with Jim Belushi in 1987's Real Men and played the lead role in Blake Edwards' 1989 film Skin Deep. He appeared in the film version of Noises Off, rejoined Billy Bob Thornton in the Oscar-winning Sling Blade (playing a kindhearted, gay, discount-store manager), and co-starred with Olivier Gruner in the 1996 action film Mercenary. Ritter starred in many television films, including Gramps (1995), co-starring with Andy Griffith, Rob Hedden's The Colony (1995) with Hal Linden, Stephen King's It, Danielle Steel's Heartbeat with Polly Draper, and It Came from the Sky in 1999 with Yasmine Bleeth. Ritter made guest appearances on television shows, such as Felicity, Ally McBeal, Scrubs, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He provided the voice of the title character in the animated children's show Clifford the Big Red Dog and its animated film adaptation Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004), a role for which he received four Emmy nominations. His final film was Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up (2006), an animated direct-to-DVD film based on the television series Stanley, which was dedicated to his memory. At the time of his death, he was starring in 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter.
In 2000, Ritter co-starred with Henry Winkler in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, portraying Claude Pichon. It ran for 364 performances. Ritter won the Theatre World Award in 2001 for his performance in that work. He starred in J For J at LA's Court Theatre from March 14 until April 21, 2002, alongside Jeff Kober and Jenny Sullivan. It was directed by Joseph Fuqua and written by Jenny Sullivan. In 2003, Ritter made his final stage appearance in All About Eve at the Ahmanson Theatre.
On October 16, 1977, Ritter married actress Nancy Morgan, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1996. In 1998, Ritter and Amy Yasbeck had a child, who transitioned from female to male at the age of 18. In 1999, Ritter and Yasbeck were married at the Murphy Theatre in Wilmington, Ohio. Yasbeck played his love interest in the first two Problem Child films, though as two different characters. Yasbeck played Ritter's wife in two sitcom appearances. In 1991, both were guest stars on The Cosby Show, in which Yasbeck played the in-labor wife of Ritter's basketball coach character. In 1996, Ritter guest-starred on Yasbeck's sitcom, Wings, as the estranged husband of Yasbeck's character, Casey.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
