After his death, the Sept 29 issue of People Magazine featured 2 different covers - issues distributed to the central and southwest US (except Florida) showed Johnny Cash who had also recently passed away, the rest displayed a photo of John Ritter taken by veteran photojournalist Michael Germana. Appropriately, he was waving goodbye.
At the same time he entered Hollywood High School, he fell in love with The Beatles.
Attended Walter Reed Jr. High School in North Hollywood, California.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 464-465. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
Buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California (actually borders Glendale and Griffith Park). Lot 1622 Court of Liberty near Stan Laurel's grave-site.
Died in the same hospital he was born in, which was the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.
Died on his youngest daughter, Stella's, 5th birthday.
Died one day before the death of country music legend Johnny Cash. Incidentally, his father, Tex, had written several songs for Johnny during the 50s and 60s.
During an interview on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993), Ritter claimed that he chose the name "Vaughan Cunningham" for his character in Sling Blade (1996) based on an in-joke with the cast of "Happy Days" (1974).
Ended 20 year rift with his "Three's Company" (1976) co-star Suzanne Somers shortly before his death.
Father of 4 children: Jason Ritter, (born on Sunday, February 17th, 1980), Carly Ritter, (born on Monday, March 1, 1982), Tyler Ritter, (born on Thursday, January 31st, 1985) and Stella Ritter, (born on Friday, September 11th, 1998).
Good friend of Jenny Sullivan and Paul Linke.
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to that of his father.
He was a scout (but not an Eagle).
His father, cowboy star Tex Ritter, tried to steer him away from an acting career but lived long enough to rejoice in seeing him in a recurring role on "The Waltons" (1971), which was Tex's favorite TV program.
His favorite musical group was The Beatles, and he even appeared on Ringo Starr's TV special Ringo (1978) (TV).
His final film, Bad Santa (2003), was dedicated to his memory.
His talent for physical schtick was heralded by TV's top comedy icon Lucille Ball, who hosted a tribute to John's talent on "Three's Company" (1976). John later appeared in an episode of Lucille's last comedy series "Life with Lucy" (1986) In that episode, Lucy claims that during the shooting of a scene, it was the third time in her entire career that she had to yell "cut" because he broke her up laughing.
In "Three's Company" (1976) and "Three's a Crowd" (1984), he played a straight man pretending to be gay. In Dangerous Perceptions (2005), his son, Jason Ritter, played a gay man pretending to be straight.
Married Amy Yasbeck in Wilmington, Ohio. The two had lived together for a couple of years. [18 September 1999]