Ritter, Jonathon Southworth

▪ 2004

“John” 

      American actor and comedian (b. Sept. 17, 1948, Burbank, Calif.—d. Sept. 11, 2003, Burbank), was a master of physical comedy, a talent he put to especially good use in the best-known of his television series, Three's Company (1977–84), for which he won an Emmy Award in 1984. He showcased his versatility as an actor in such films as Sling Blade (1996) and Manhood (2003), in more than 25 made-for TV movies, and on Broadway in The Dinner Party (2000). Ritter, the son of country-and-western singer-actor Tex Ritter, collapsed on the set of his latest series, 8 Simple Rules … for Dating My Teenage Daughter, and died of a previously undetected heart defect.

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