|
 On 17 September 1948 in Burbank, California USA, legendary
country singing star/actor Tex Ritter and his wife, Dorothy Fay (nee
Southworth) celebrated the arrival of their second son Jonathan
Southworth Ritter. Since their firstborn, Tom, did not follow his
father into show business but instead became an attorney, Tex and
Dorothy had no way of knowing that little Jonathan would one day be a
famous TV and movie actor known to audiences simply as John Ritter.
With her husband's long-held connections with country
music, Dorothy Fay Ritter became the official 'greeter' at The Grand
Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and both John and his brother visited
often. Since 1977 the brothers have hosted the annual United Cerebral
Palsy Telethon (a neurological condition particularly close to their
hearts because of Tom's triumph over it) and have raised millions of
dollars for the organization over the years.
Tex Ritter did not want his son to become an actor and,
at first, John
did his best to comply with his father's wishes. He was educated at
Hollywood High School, where he served as student body President, and
then went on to the University of Southern California where he majored
in Psychology and minored in Architecture. After 2 years, he was
persuaded (by a cute girl!) to join a drama class given by leading
drama coach and actress Nina Foch. The lure of the 'greasepaint'
beckoned and John changed his major to Theater Arts, graduating in 1971
with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. As well as Nina Foch, he
studied acting with Stella Adler and the Harvey Lembeck Comedy
Workshop. In 1968 and '69 John appeared in several stage performances
in England, Scotland (at the Edinburgh Festival), Holland and Germany,
in such works as Love Letters, The Unvarnished Truth, The Glass
Menagerie, Forty Carats, Butterflies Are Free, As You Like It, The
Tempest, Nevada, Who's Happy Now? and Desire Under The Elms.
Fortunately, Tex Ritter was entertaining troops in Germany at the same
time as his son was performing at an air base there. He recognised that
'something special' in John and gave him his blessing to go into acting
if that was what he really wanted. Sadly, Mr Ritter Snr. died in 1973
before his son achieved the celebrity status that arrived in 1977 with
the TV series Three's Company. His movie debut was in 1971 with "The
Barefoot Executive".
Although there were guest appearances in several
television shows which obviously impressed TV moguls (e.g. 'The Mary
Tyler Moore Show' (1970), 'Dan August' (1970), 'Hawaii Five-O' (1971
& '77), 'The Streets of San Francisco' (1972), 'The Love Boat',
'M.A.S.H.' and 'Kojak' (both in 1973) and a regular spot in 'The
Waltons' (1972-6 : his father's favourite show),it was Three's Company
that launched John into the kind of TV superstardom from which he has
never looked back. In addition to guesting on all the major TV shows he
has hosted several too, including a comedy special for ABC entitled
"John Ritter: Being of Sound Mind And Body", a CBS special, "The Secret
World of the Very Young", a series of sixty-second vignettes for
syndication called "History in the Company of Children", the last 3
years of "The World's Greatest Magic Show", "Amazing Animals" and "The
History of Toys and Games". He formed his own production company, Adam
Productions, in 1984, and this has been responsible for his own
starring vehicle "Hooperman" as well as series for other actors, one of
which starred Jamie Lee Curtis "Anything But Love" and John
guest-starred in 5 episodes and looked devastatingly handsome in a kilt!
He
has also appeared in instructional videos including 'Natural
Childbirth' (with Nancy Morgan), and 'The American Red Cross Emergency
Test'. It's almost impossible to keep up with everything this energetic
actor does. As if acting, producing and hosting wasn't enough, he has
also performed on several audio books: "Flight of the Reindeer", "Jack
and the Beanstalk", "Oh Christmas Tree", "White Fang" and at least 3 of
humorist Dave Barry's works, i.e. "Guide to Guys", "Funniest Stuff" and
"More Funniest Stuff", all of which are hilarious.
It
was towards the end of the 1970's that he met actress Nancy Morgan, the
lady who became his wife for 19 years and with whom he had 3 children
(sons Jason and Tyler and daughter Carly). They appeared on screen
several times together (e.g. 'Tricks of the Trade' (1988),
'Americathon' (1979), 'Heartbeat' (1993) and an episode of 'Hooperman'
(1988) but sadly divorced in 1996. While he has tended to stay
primarily in the media of television rather than motion pictures, he is
as much in demand today, over 20 years later as he was back in his
'apartment-sharing' days. According to the IMDb, he completed 10 movies
in 1998; several TV guest-starring roles, including the highly
acclaimed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Ally McBeal (for which he was
nominated for an Emmy award in 1999); and, after what must have been a
difficult time for a while, his private life is happy again - John's
then fiancee, actress Amy Yasbeck gave birth to their baby daughter
(Stella) in September 1998, and we wish John and his family every
happiness for the future. John and Amy were married on 18 September
1999, the day after his 51st birthday.
|
|