Behind Closed Doors (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - John Ritter - full transcript

-One of the finest comedic
and physical comics of our time.

-He's comparable
to Jackie Gleason.

-Success appeared effortless.

-He as the number-one actor

on the number-one show
on the number-one network.

-When you're good,

the spotlight
turns and faces you.

It found John.

-The son of Hollywood icons...

-"Is he really
Tex Ritter's son?"

I did not know that.
-Have been for years.



-...but John Ritter
struggled to be taken seriously.

-Are you an actor doing comedy
or a comedian doing movies?

-Well, we'll see, won't we?
[ Chuckles ]

-He was a serious actor.

He was very dedicated
to what he did.

-I don't mind making people
laugh for a long time,

but it's vital
to sort of make people think

and take responsibility.

-One of Hollywood's
most beloved stars.

-America loved him,
and I loved him, as well.

-When you'd go
visit him on a set,

everybody knew him.
He was that magical person.

-To this day,
if anyone asked me John Ritter,

I get this chill
because I love him so much.



-It came from the depth
of his very being

to create joy in the world.

-If I didn't believe
that we are not here

to take care of each other
and to help each other,

I could not get out of my bed
in the morning.

♪♪

-His sudden death was shocking.

-I literally couldn't take
the information into my brain.

"We lost John."

-It was so shocking.

Impossible
to wrap my mind around.

-A life cut short.

♪♪

-There's just nothing bad
you can say about John Ritter

except that
he died way too young.

♪♪

-As Jack Tripper, John Ritter
established himself

as one of the most gifted
physical comedians

of his generation.

Later, he shocked his fans

with his heartfelt
dramatic portrayals,

garnering Oscar buzz
in "Sling Blade."

In "8 Simple Rules
for Dating My Teenage Daughter,"

Ritter's final television role,
he captured the hearts

of American families
all over again.

Welcome to "John Ritter:
Behind Closed Doors."

I'm Natalie Morales.

Ritter's prolific career
in television, film, and theatre

spanned decades, but
for a man so physically gifted,

he was also,
tragically, physically flawed.

Ritter suffered from
an undetected aortic aneurysm

that would eventually cause
his body's main artery to tear.

When caught in time,
the condition is survivable.

Undetected, as in Ritter's case,

it can be fatal.

-This was a dark day
in the entertainment world.

John Ritter, perhaps best known
for his role

as Jack on "Three's Company,"

collapsed on the set
of his show last night

and died soon after,
only 54 years old.

♪♪

-He said to me,
"You know what? I'm all sweaty.

I'm gonna get some water."

I said, "I'm just gonna go over
here and memorize my lines

so I don't stink up the set."

I never saw him again.

-We were shooting some promos,

and there's always a bit of,
"Oh, do I have to?"

♪♪

The minute he wanted
to take a break,

it was new, and everyone took it
very seriously because of that.

He kept kind of saying,
"Oh, I'm fine.

I'll be back in 15 minutes,"
and that sort of thing.

And at that point,
it was like, "No, no,

it's not that important today.

Let's get you
over to the hospital."

-The hospital is only
a short trip across the street.

-When I walked into his room,

he made a joke about
being ready to do the promos,

which was lovely and funny,

but you could see in that moment

that he was really
not doing well.

We just didn't know
anything at that point.

-My phone just started binging
with messages,

and the first one
that I got was Flody Suarez,

and he said, you know,
"Hey, John got sick at work.

They took him to the hospital,
and he's really sick."

And I said, "I'm on my way."

-Ritter is misdiagnosed
and treated for a heart attack.

He begins rapidly deteriorating.

-It's important
to make the correct diagnosis

of an acute aortic dissection

'cause the treatment
is very different.

And if you don't
make the correct diagnosis,

it can actually lead to death.

-Amy called me, his wife,
and said,

"This is really serious.

They're saying he's gonna die."

-With an acute
aortic dissection,

50% of the people die

before they even make it
to the hospital.

Another approximately 20%
will die

either during the surgery
or after the surgery.

-Flody Suarez and Ritter's wife,
actress Amy Yasbeck,

remain by his side
throughout the ordeal.

Though Ritter, a father or four,
remains in good spirits.

-That was John.
You know, situation's tough,

lighten it up.
Make people laugh.

-It takes four critical hours
for Ritter's aortic dissection

to be discovered.

He is rushed
into emergency surgery.

♪♪

-I think it was probably
around 10:00 that night,

there was a code blue, and...

Amy seemed to immediately sense
exactly what was going on.

And then it just kind of
quickly spiraled from there.

♪♪

-Ritter dies
on the operating table.

It is September 11th, 2003,

six days shy
of his 55th birthday.

♪♪

-My mind went to his kids.

He was such an amazing dad,

and what they were gonna
have to go through

was really devastating.

♪♪

-I got the call
at about 11:00 that night.

I had the producer
repeat to me maybe 10 times.

I literally couldn't take
the information into my brain.

♪♪

-My wife was online
at her computer, and...

I heard her say,
"Oh, my God, Tom. John's dead."

♪♪

And I couldn't believe it.

I just...I-I-I was...

...speechless.

♪♪

-The correct cause
of Ritter's death

wouldn't be reported
for two days,

but the impact of his loss
was immediate.

♪♪

-I remember being
in a restaurant with my parents,

and I'm, like, looking around
at all these people.

And I was like...

"Why hasn't your world stopped?"

[ Voice breaking ]
Like, it didn't --
that didn't make sense.

Like, how...

'Cause it felt like
the world stopped.

-It's hard for me
to talk about John

without bursting
into tears, so...

It's just tough.
I miss him every day.

♪♪

-I teared up on the show,

and everyone
made fun of me for that,

but, I don't know, I think

a lot of people cried
when John Ritter died.

They just had the good sense
to do it off of television.

-Why do you think you felt that?

What was it about him?

-If you talked to anybody,

he's one of the most popular
people amongst crew,

amongst other actors, amongst
directors, writers, etcetera,

and it's because
he was very kind to people.

-When you'd go visit him
on a set, everybody knew him.

He was that magical person.

-Jonathan Southworth Ritter

came from
a magical show-biz family.

His father was Tex Ritter, the
singing cowboy and matinee star,

and his mother
was actress Dorothy Fay.

-I was reading the card
the other night

where we promo upcoming people
on this show,

and it mentioned
that you were Tex Ritter's son.

Now, this is something I had
absolutely no idea was true

until I said,
"Is he really Tex Ritter's son?"

I did not know that.
-Have been for years.

-Yes, probably all your life.
-Right.

-He grew up
in a Hollywood family,

and his father was a big star.

So, you're starting out feeling

like you've got
something to prove.

-He made a lot of jokes
about being

Tex's son and Dorothy's son.

Dorothy Ritter,
John always said,

was a combination
of the Good Witch

and Amanda Wingfield
in "Glass Menagerie."

She was always
the brightest bulb in the room,

and John's joke to her
was always, "Mom, cheer up."

♪♪

-Though Ritter
would later be known

for his open and
affectionate relationships

with friends and family,

his own relationship
with his father is distant.

-Now, I had an interesting
experience with my father,

and I'm one of the luckiest
this way, but I...

I saw "East of Eden," you know,
and it killed me.

And I just said,
"All I want to tell you is that,

before you die,

I just want you to know
that I really love you,

and thank you
for being my dad, and..."

He got a little embarrassed,
and I said,

"I sort of need to know

that you love me, too.
Do you?"

And he said,
"Well, yes, you know that."

-"Of course I do."
-"Of course I do,"

and he didn't want
to talk about it,

but I just said that to him,
and I said,

"It's just something
I feel I wanted to say."

My dad was, you know,
born in Texas around 1905,

and, boy,
men did not hug each other.

-No, no.
-He had all this feeling

exploding inside of him,

and he'd still be,
[sternly] "How are you?"

-They were famous people,

but John had
this whole theory about fame,

that it was good like a sun tan,

but if you stayed in it
too long, you'd get burned.

-He learned in that family,
growing up,

that it's a privilege to be able
to do something that you enjoy

and that you'd get well-paid
for and that people react to.

♪♪

-But despite their own fame,

his parents don't want him
to go into show business.

-My father said,
"Promise me one thing, son.

You'll never become an actor."

He was a very successful singer,

but he also had
many friends who weren't.

He wanted us to have a trade,
like become a lawyer.

But I said, "No, thanks."

The only thing that interests me
about lawyers

was Perry Mason on TV.

-Ritter's older brother, Tommy,
gets the legal degree instead.

♪♪

Though he never
considers law school,

Ritter does consider
a career in politics.

He is class president
at his high school,

Hollywood High,
two years running.

-His dad had run
for the Senate once,

so he was around politics,
and he was growing up

in the Bobby Kennedy Era
that excited all of us.

-He knew how
to make people laugh,

and I think he probably
loved that aspect of politics,

where you would stand up there
in front of people.

-From Hollywood High,
Ritter chooses

the University
of Southern California

where he studies
psychology and drama.

-There's a very fine line
between acting

and drama and psychology.

You need to understand people,

and there were
numerous acting classes

where I saw this guy exploring

those strange little roads
we can all go down.

So, I think
it was a natural segue.

♪♪

-Success seems
to come easily for Ritter.

He appears on "The Dating Game"
as a teenager,

and within a few years,
he's made guest appearances

on "Hawaii Five-O,"
"M.A.S.H.," and "The Waltons."

He studies with
noted drama teachers Nina Foch,

Harvey Lembeck,
and Stella Adler.

-So, we're taking
Stella Adler's class.

We had an assignment
which was from a novel,

pick a monologue, and then
act the monologue in class.

So, I said to John,
"Did you do your assignment?"

And he went, "No."

And I went, [chuckles]
"I didn't either."

Cut to class. Next thing I know,

John gets up
to do his monologue.

And I'm looking at him
with daggers going,

"You've betrayed me!"

And he gets up in front
of the class

and proceeds to tell a story
about his neighbor,

and people
are sitting like this

and starting to lean forward,

and then when it's done,
she says,

"Brilliant, Mr. Ritter!

Just brilliant!
What was the name of that book?"

And he says, "Kiss My Brother
For Me" by Neil Frame.

Neil Frame was his neighbor.

And at that moment,
I went, "He's a genius."

People were writing down
the name of the book.

"I got to read that book."

There's no such book.

-He was a serious actor.

He just wanted
to keep getting better.

He was very dedicated
to what he did

and very serious about it

and wasn't frivolous
about it at all.

♪♪

-When you look at his talent,
you know, being able

to do comedy, and drama --
-Yeah, I know, that --

I will say there
are very few actors

who could swim
from one genre to another

without breaking the water.

People admired him
but did not understand

the depth of his ability.

♪♪

-I think he's one of the great
physical comedians of our time.

He had a great sense
of physical comedy,

which is rare. Very rare.

♪♪

-His gift for physical comedy
is so rare

that he will soon beat out
50 other actors,

including a young Billy Crystal,

for the role
that will make him a star.

♪♪

-Welcome back to "John Ritter:
Behind Closed Doors,"

our inside look
at the life and death

of this beloved Hollywood icon.

At 27,
Ritter is a working actor,

regularly landing
guest-starring roles

on the hit shows of
the late '60s and early '70s --

"The Waltons,"
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show,"

"Rhoda," "M.A.S.H.,"

but he is still waiting
for his big break.

♪♪

-He had been acting.
I mean, he was --

even when he was still
in school, he was doing shows.

Everybody knew
that he was a big deal.

It was just sort of, like,
waiting for it to happen.

-Ritter scores
a coveted audition

with up-and-coming director
Peter Bogdanovich.

-I was preparing a film called
"The Last Picture Show,"

and John came to read to me.

That's how I met him.

He was very close
to getting the part.

I often wished
I had given him the part.

He came in more than once

'cause he was
one of the finalists.

One time, he brought his father,
Tex Ritter, in

to see me about possibly playing

the role of Sam the Lion.

It was nice to meet Tex.
He was very sweet.

They were very sweet together.

-Bogdanovich
finally cast Ritter

in a film called "Nickelodeon."

-And I just loved
working with him.

Sometime toward the end
of the shoot,

I said, "I'm gonna use you
on the next picture."

He said,
"Well, I'm gonna do a series.

I'm doing a pilot for a series."

I said, "Oh, no.
What if it's a hit?

Then I won't be able
to use you."

He said,
"Oh, it won't be a hit."

"What's it called?"
"'Three's Company.'"

It wasn't much of a hit.

It only ran nine years
or something.

♪♪

-Ritter beats out
50 other actors,

including a young Billy Crystal,
to play Jack Tripper,

a bachelor
who pretends to be gay

in order to live
with two beautiful women,

played by Joyce DeWitt
and Suzanne Somers.

♪♪

-I was making a living
doing "The Tonight Show."

Fred Silverman, who was
the president of ABC,

said, "I got the girl."

I see her on 'The Tonight Show'
all the time."

And so that's how I was
brought into "Three's Company,"

and I walked in,
and there was John Ritter.

♪♪

-It was a rapport that --

it's hard to explain
when you meet someone

and you sort of exchange
goofiness and it works.

And I remember Norman Fell,
the night of the taping,

came over to me, and Norman,
in his low voice, said,

"They're gonna have you back."
I said, "How do you know that?"

He says, "Well, the way
you and John get together --

they love the chemistry
between you and John."

I said, "Okay, great."
-He makes me laugh,

and when something
really makes me laugh,

it just comes out of me.
It's like --

[snorts]
That kind of thing.

-Chrissy's snort
on "Three's Company,"

one of the hallmarks
of her character,

also stems from
Ritter's off-screen efforts

to make Somers laugh.

-[ Snorts ]

-I still do it to this day.
Who knows?

Comedy, one of those
little things,

came out of an honest moment.

-"Three's Company" is built
around Ritter's chemistry

with his costars,

but its centerpiece
becomes Ritter's uncanny gift

for physical comedy.

-John and I think -- we both
knew by the end of the first day

working together that there was
something going on here

that didn't even
require language.

We could feel where
the other person was gonna go.

-You can't write
for physical comedy.

You can cast for it,
but you can't write for it.

John brought
so much more to the page

because of his physical comedy.

I can't think of anybody
who did it better than John.

♪♪

-The ski show. you know,
in the script, it says,

"Okay, now Janet
teaches Jack how to ski."

Well, that's about seven,
eight minutes of physical humor,

but we just start playing
together, and our director,

Dave Powers, was so marvelous
to give us the space

to just be silly and stupid

until we stumbled
on the right thing.

But because we were
so physically

comfortable with each other...

-Janet, something is happening.
-...in that sense

of comedic physical comedy,

we'd just play around until we
fell upon what was worth saving,

and then take those bits
and put them together.

-I had the good sense to watch
John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt.

They were bouncing off
of one another in a way

that I realized there was some
kind of dance going on here.

It hit me.
[ Gasps ] Oh!

It's musical. Comedy is musical.

Set up, set up, beat.

I am musical, and from
the moment I realized

comedic timing is rhythm,

I got it.

From that moment on,
it became magic.

The show "Handcuffed," I can
watch that over and over again.

I can't!
-Chrissy!

Ow!

-I watched this magic

of the way
we threw one another around.

By the way, my wrist --
those handcuffs really hurt.

You don't want to be
handcuffed to somebody,

especially with the comedic
timing of John Ritter

for a week. [ Laughs ]

-[ Woman singing operatically ]

-All you need to do is tune in
to the episode

"A-Camping We Will Go,"

and when John
tries to get on a hammock.

That's, like, brilliant stuff.
That's like Buster Keaton stuff.

It's great.

He had terrific body control,
and he knew it was funny,

and he genuinely loved
what he was doing.

My favorite episode
of "Three's Company"

is the episode where he falls

because, basically,
that's every single episode.

And he had that amazing ability.

I think pratfalls are a very
understated form of comedy.

It's the timing.

Comedy is all about timing,

and the timing of a pratfall
is an amazing gift,

and John could do that
better than anybody.

♪♪

-But it's not as effortless
as Ritter makes it look,

as he tells Conan O'Brien
15 years later.

-In "Three's Company,"
this was what you pretty much

did every episode
was fall over stuff.

-As I slid off the couch,

I smashed my temple
into the corner of this table,

and apparently,
I knocked myself out.

-You're kidding.
-And everybody thought,

"That's so great! Cut!"

-Ritter and longtime friend
Tom Bergeron,

who he would meet as a regular
on "Hollywood Squares,"

would bond over
their love of classic comedians

Jack Benny and Dick Van Dyke.

-So, one day,
we were having lunch,

and I asked him, I said,
"When you were doing Tripper,

there was some real
Van Dyke in there,"

and he said, "Oh, yeah.
Yeah, there was definitely

a tribute to Dick Van Dyke."

-He was a student of all of
the great physical comedians.

He knew the difference
between Stan Laurel's walk

and Buster Keaton's walk
and Charlie Chaplin's walk

and show you the difference
between how they would walk,

how they would fall.

-Comic genius.

He choreographed those pratfalls

so that he would do it
exactly the same over and over.

-He was both gifted
and extremely skilled.

Growing up,
Jerry Lewis and Red Skelton,

those guys, I mean,
he loved them,

and he was watching them
all the time,

and he was already, as a child,

trying to do
what they were doing.

-John was the center
of spontaneous hilarity.

I mean, there was the script,

and then there was
John doing shtick.

For example,
my character of Larry Dallas,

was always entering
the set -- "Bing bong!"

-Larry!
-Hi, buddy!

-The door would open,
and John would have

his pants around his ankles.

And he'd go,
"Yes? How can I help you?

Larry, what do you want?
Larry!

What do you need?
How can I help you?"

So, it was that.
That was going on all the time.

How we got anything done
is beyond me.

-The show is shot live
in front of a studio audience,

playing to Ritter's background
in theatre.

-That allowed us
to do so many things

that had never been written
that were just

an outcropping of working
in front of a live audience.

Just thrilling.

-But when the show
premieres in 1977,

"Three's Company" is criticized
as risqué and anti-feminist.

-I just thought
that was ridiculous,

but I'm from the theatre,
and what we were trying to do

was a contemporary version
of a 16th-century farce.

Doors slamming, misconceptions,
misunderstandings,

people being confused one
for the other, sexual innuendo.

That's all
a part of the package.

-The fact that he was
pretending to be a gay man

living with
two heterosexual women,

the fact that the audience
was in on the joke,

and in on "the secret,"
was something that made it

completely acceptable
throughout the entire nation.

-The only thing I remember was

some reverend
condemning the show

and trying to pull advertisers
and all that,

and we just
sort of laughed it off

because 21 million other people
were watching the show.

♪♪

-All I know is
what you saw was somebody

who was committed
to the job he was doing.

He was grateful
about that it was successful.

-Though it's dismissed
by critics,

the show is beloved by viewers.

-Today, families
tell me how delighted they are

that there's
this good family show to watch

and they wished
there were more of them.

So, how about that? [ Chuckles ]

-But behind the scenes,
cracks are beginning to form

among the tight-knit cast.

♪♪

-By 1977, John Ritter
is cast in a new TV show

and soon meets the man who would
become his best friend,

Henry Winkler, better known
at the time as The Fonz.

Tell me about first meeting him.

-25th anniversary of ABC,
it was an affiliate party.

All the stars
of shows that were coming.

I'm sitting at the table
with Stacey, my wife,

and I moved my chair back

and bumped into John Ritter.

♪♪

And all I knew about John Ritter

was I had seen the ads
for "Three's Company,"

and in the very first ad,
he fell out of frame.

And you know
how you just know, you can see,

just the tone of him
being on-screen?

And I said,
"Oh, I just saw your ad.

I think you are going to just
enjoy yourself beyond measure."

We started to be friends.

-One of America's most eligible
bachelors at age 29,

he marries actress Nancy Morgan.

♪♪

-I remember when he met Nancy,

and I remember
all of us thinking,

"Wow, this is different."

We loved Nancy,
but we also just accepted it

as it's the right time
for him, you know?

And it definitely seemed to be.

♪♪

-It was really sweet,

and we, you know,
weren't that well-known yet.

They were together, actually,
when we first started.

They were already in love
with each other.

-Was it too young? I don't know.

I think he needed her
at that time.

She grounded him.
She looked right with him.

They were
the All-American couple.

She adored him.

All the pictures,
she would be looking up at him.

I really liked her.
I liked them as a couple.

I always wanted them
to stay together.

-By 1980, Ritter and Morgan
are expecting their first child.

The experience offers John
insight into his father, Tex,

who died six years earlier.

-Sunday, I'm gonna be
a father, thereabouts.

Nancy is nine months
and counting.

And, uh, um...

-Hi, Nancy.
-Hi, Nancy.

Almost home. Um...

But I find myself dreaming

and thinking about myself
as a little boy

and things that
I never remembered again.

Just, you know, in my search
to try to be a good father,

I'm trying to -- you know,
and I'm reaching out,

and it's like
my relationship with him

is still continuing
even though he died in 1974.

I'm still thinking about him
and learning from him.

You know, I go,
"That's why he said that to me!"

-Is this
the first child for you?

-Yeah.
-Oh, yeah?

[ Both laugh ]

They don't come with
instructions, unfortunately.

-Oh, no.

♪♪

-Ritter's first son, Jason,
is born in 1980,

and soon featured

in "Three's Company"
opening credits.

-This little toddler
in little overalls just,

you know, about that tall,
toddles in to my shot,

and he and I engage.

That's actually
Jason Ritter's film debut.

That's Jason.

-The couple would go on
to have two more children,

Carly and Tyler.

For all his gifts
as an actor and comedian,

Ritter finds his true calling
in fatherhood.

-One summer, Nancy organized
a trip to Switzerland,

and we were travelling by car,

and the kids got sick.

They had eaten something,
and they were all throwing up.

And I'll never forget
John holding my son

over a flower bed like this

so that he could kind of
throw up into the bushes.

When he was a dad, he was a dad.

It wasn't acting, it wasn't
performing, it wasn't famous.

It was about, "I'm a dad."

-I don't think that fatherhood
necessarily change him.

I think it did bring out
that responsible side,

but I also think that
it reignited

his silly,
creative, playful, fun side,

because now he had
these little people

to be silly and fun
and creative with.

He got to become the kid in
himself which has so much to do

with the playfulness
of Jack Tripper.

♪♪

-As Ritter settles
into his role as a father,

he, along with all the cast
and crew of "Three's Company,"

begin to adjust
to he fame and fortune

that comes with
a number-one TV show.

-And then things happened.

"Three's Company"
became this big deal.

We were both
pretty young and naive

about realizing
the possibilities.

He was the number-one actor
on the number-one show

on the number-one network.

And it was a big deal.

♪♪

-We got a telegram one day

that the President
was going to address the nation.

It was not
an emergency circumstance.

He was scheduled to speak
at 9:00 on Tuesday night.

And we got a telegram
that he was going to speak

at 9:00 Wednesday night

because he didn't want
to upset the American audience

by preempting our show.

That is when we knew
we had gotten well-known.

It's like, "Oh, my gosh.
I guess we're famous."

♪♪

-When you're on a hit series
like this, like with John,

movies started coming to him.
He was on fire.

You just knew
he was going to go on

and just be the biggest
and the best,

and he was certainly, to me,

the best on television
at that time.

♪♪

-Ritter tapes
his own ABC comedy special

and does several films,
including one where he costars

with Audrey Hepburn
by Peter Bogdanovich.

-I called him, I said,
"How would you like to play me

in a comedy?"

He said, "What time
do I show up and where?"

We did a picture called
"They All Laughed,"

which is my favorite
among my own films.

-Ritter's love interest
in the film

is Bogdanovich's girlfriend,
Dorothy Stratten.

-It was her first
really big role,

and he couldn't
have been sweeter to her.

And he knew
I was crazy about her.

He just was such a trooper
the way he handled her.

She was constantly laughing.

She was always laughing
'cause he was so funny,

and he was so sweet, and he
fell in love with her, too.

♪♪

-"They All Laughed"
is meant to be

Stratten's first big
studio film.

But instead, it is her last.

In love with Bogdanovich
and blossoming

into a mainstream actress,

Stratten is in
the process of divorcing

her estranged husband

when he brutally murders her

before turning the gun
on himself.

♪♪

Ritter's kindness to Stratten
during filming

is never forgotten
by Bogdanovich.

The two stay close friends
until Ritter's death.

♪♪

-He showed up for his friends
in more ways than one.

He was unequivocally a friend.

♪♪

-On set at "Three's Company,"

Ritter gains a reputation
for his generosity to costars.

Was John that kind
of actor that

shared the spotlight,
shared the scenes?

-You know, when you're good...
-Yeah.

-...you don't have to hog.

When you're good,
the spotlight, on its own,

turns and faces you.

♪♪

-But with the show's success,
tensions begin to develop.

According to Somers,
a poorly-handled Newsweek cover

permanently alters the
relationship between the stars.

-When we're doing the shoot,

the photographer
kept putting me in front

with John
leering over my shoulder

and Joyce at my feet.

I was really uncomfortable
'cause I was very of aware of --

I knew my place,
I came in third,

I don't need to be
in front like this,

but the magazine,

the photographer,
was given his orders.

I said,
"I'm really uncomfortable.

The photographer keeps
putting me in front,

and I'm really uncomfortable.

This just doesn't feel right."

It created a, um --

the first bad vibe on the set,
and it was wrong.

-It is a wound
that never fully heals.

♪♪

♪♪

-Welcome back to "John Ritter:
Behind Closed Doors."

By 1978,
Jack, Chrissy, and Janet

are inviting
millions of Americans

to come and knock on their door
every week.

But behind the scenes, as
the show becomes more popular,

tensions grow between

Ritter, Suzanne Somers,
and Joyce DeWitt.

Tensions that ultimately
will have a devastating effect.

♪♪

-There's a kind of comfort zone
that certainly is

a part of having
chemistry with somebody,

chemistry in
the work of the actor.

In the creative process,

you're never gonna get
the best work of any kind

unless people feel safe
and secure and comfortable.

-With no formal acting training
and a son to support,

Somers is at a different place
in her life than her costars.

-When I went on
"Three's Company,"

I didn't know,
really, what I was doing,

but I saw it as a great
opportunity commercially.

John and Joyce
were always gonna act.

That was their life.
They studied it.

Joyce was at UCLA,
she was hand-picked

by the ABC talent scouts,

and John was always
gonna act.

He was just too good not to act.
I didn't know about me.

-John and I both came
from theatre backgrounds

as did Richard
and Norman and Audra, Don.

♪♪

-While Ritter,
as the son of two celebrities,

is perfectly comfortable
with publicity,

DeWitt largely avoids it while
Somers aggressively pursues it.

♪♪

-When you hit it in television,
when you go after it,

there's no guarantee
there's ever gonna be a job.

So, when you hit it,
it's the pot of gold.

It's what you were hoping for.
At least I was.

I was hoping for the creative
work, the fame, and the money.

You know, I don't know if that
makes me a bad person or not,

but I'm a, you know, capitalist,

and that just seemed
like a good idea to me,

and I grew up poor,

and it was sure a lot more fun
to have a little money.

[ Laughs ]

-At the beginning
of season five in 1980,

Somers makes a bold move.

Though Ritter is
the top-billed star of the show,

she decides to demand
significantly more pay.

-John was the star of the show,
but I can't help it, so was I.

So was I. That's what
the public had decided,

my demographics had decided,
my advertisers had decided,

the magazine covers had decided.

All the men
were making more than me,

and John Ritter
was making more than me,

and yet I had
the number-one demographics

of all women in television
at that time,

and so when my contract was up,

my husband went in
to negotiate, and, um...

There's a lot of dynamics
going on.

-The request is not
well-received by ABC execs.

-As I mentioned
at the top of our program,

Suzanne Somers has been engaged
in a knock-down, drag-out fight

with her "Three's Company"
bosses in ABC over her salary.

She's here to talk about it
tonight at long last.

Good evening, nice to see you.

-Hi, Mona.
-Why did this all happen?

What were you looking for?
What did you ask ABC?

-I had been in contractual
discussions for 10 months

now with ABC
and the production company,

and my feeling was the show
was called "Three's Company,"

I am one of the three,
the show will be on

for the next 25 years,
and I will not receive a penny.

So, that is what --

that is how it started
in contractual discussions.

There were no threats,
there was no,

"I won't show up, I won't do --"
Nothing like that.

It was just,
"Hey, let's sit down and talk,

because it seems
a little unfair."

♪♪

-Ritter and DeWitt are not
involved in the negotiations

but can see that
their show is unraveling.

-John wanted to put the show on

and was not involved
in Suzanne's negotiations

with the studio or the network,
but from his point of view was,

"We're putting a show on,
and I hope she's part of it."

-It was very disruptive.

For openers, we had to cancel

at least one taping
that I can remember,

and I remember what they did
was they gave Don Knotts and I

Suzanne's lines,
which was kind of bizarre,

'cause both Don and I
had to act extremely stupid,

because that was
the Chrissy character.

But there was a lot
of resentment going around.

-Okay, you say you want
to go back to work.

There have been many things
written, as you well know.

Two of the stars
of "Three's Company,"

John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt,
have reportedly,

at least they've said it
in the press,

that they said there's no way

they can continue
to work with you.

They're very angry with you.

They don't want to have
anything to do with you.

-I feel it can be worked out.

I know, I've heard that
same thing about John and Joyce.

I was told by Ted Bergman,
the producer, he said,

"We can't have Suzanne back on
the show because John and Joyce

have refused
to go on the set with her."

I do not -- I can't believe that
John and Joyce feel that way.

They're my friends.

I was fired.

And so they twisted it.

I was put out immediately.

"She's greedy,"
and "Who does she think she is?"

-It's so difficult
to talk about

someone leaving
an ensemble piece like that.

Um...

In part because the transition
is that someone else comes in.

So, while -- I never imagined
the producers

would let Suzanne go.

There's a great sense of loss,
even if the leaving

is not the most graceful
on either side.

Still,
there's a great sense of loss.

-Have you spoken with them?
-It's impossible.

-They don't want to have
anything to say to you?

-They don't.
And I feel that, if it were I,

and I saw in the press

that I had said that
I won't work on the set,

that I would call
either one of them and say,

"Hey, listen, it's not true,"

and I haven't
received that call --

-Have you tried to reach them
on the telephone?

-I did talk to John Ritter.
I saw him --

the last time I saw him
was the last show I did,

and I could not
get any response.

-Years later,
Ritter would describe

the period
of the cast breakdown

as a low point in his life.

He says that
he fought for the show

while Somers
fought only for her job.

-Always the thought
of if Suzanne's departure,

cause, you know, we knew
that she was gonna be...

Would that affect our rating?

Yes. There was concern.

-Later,
in the show's fifth season,

ABC brings in Jenilee Harrison

and later Priscilla Barnes
to take over Somers' role.

♪♪

-From a consumer standpoint,

from sitting at home
and watching,

it was -- we didn't know
what was going on.

Like, we didn't really under--
I mean,

when you're just watching
television

and you're enjoying a show,
and then you hear

off to the side that there's

some sort of
contract negotiations,

you don't know
exactly what that means.

-It was just
a really awful situation

that none of them
ever came down.

Not John, not Joyce, not any
of them came down and said,

"Boy, this is rough."

♪♪

-23 years later,
DeWitt speaks of the tension

when she appears
on "The Today Show" to discuss,

"Behind the Camera:

the Unauthorized Story
of 'Three's Company,'"

a TV movie she narrates.

-I mean, the show
started as an ensemble,

but as Suzanne Somers'
popularity grew,

we all read about
everything that was going on,

that, you know,
Suzanne was being difficult.

What do you think,
in looking back at this,

what was the main problem?

-Gosh. Um...

Nobody's ever asked me that,
and I don't...

You know, I don't spend my time

trying to decide to judge
other people on their behavior.

So, it isn't something
I've ever really thought about.

Um...
-But is it safe to say

that the movie looks at --

does a lot and deals a lot
with the tension between you,

Suzanne Somers, John Ritter,
the producers.

-It is safe to say that, yes,
and if it were my movie,

it would've been a movie that
celebrated the joy of the show.

-Though its three original stars

would not reconcile
for decades to come,

"Three's Company"
runs for eight seasons,

wins two People's Choice awards,
and creates a hit spin-off,

"The Ropers."

Ritter, always a fan favorite,

wins both an Emmy
and a Golden Globe.

♪♪

As the show ends in 1984,

Ritter already has a deal
with ABC for another show,

a spin-off based on Jack Tripper
called "Three's a Crowd."

-And John's impetus
for the spin-off was

that he didn't want
"Three's Company" to go out,

you know,
at the bottom of the ratings.

It went out near the top.

So, that was his,
you know, desire.

-But the spin-off
only lasts one season.

-In television, it's hard
to capture magic in a bottle,

and when you capture magic
in the bottle,

you cherish it,
and you nurture it,

and you continue it
as long as you can.

Then when the magic starts
to dissipate, you move on.

-And he would make
a lot of jokes about,

"I'm never working again,"
and this and that,

but it was always stuff
that I don't think

I really ever felt

that he got into
a big funk and depression

about the end
of that and what's next.

-At age 36,
Ritter is a father of three

and finds himself in
a unique position in his career.

He's starting over.

Without Jack Tripper, what would
be next for John Ritter?

♪♪

♪♪

-A seemingly
effortless rise to fame,

a beautiful and loving family,
a starring role

on one of the top-rated TV
shows in history,

and a burgeoning film career.

By 1985, John Ritter
has all of this,

and then he suddenly finds
himself without Jack Tripper.

♪♪

How did he react at the time?

Did he talk at all about,
you know, being upset

that the show ended, and --

Did he talk about the rift?
-You know what, I think

I honestly remember
having a conversation with him

where -- it's time.
It's time.

You know, you've come to the
end, you've done the stories.

Anything more than that
would be pushing it.

-"Three's Company" was magic,

and it was an incredibly
unique opportunity,

or a unique time and space.

The writing came together,
the actors came together,

the concept came together.

Society in America, at the time,

was ready for a show like that.

And when one of those aspects
are out of line,

then you don't have
a classic TV show anymore.

And you try to capture
that magic again,

but you can't capture magic
based on formulas.

♪♪

-Ritter turns
to longtime friend and attorney

Bob Myman
to begin a new chapter.

-And so we formed this company

and became business partners.

It evolved
into this partnership.

-The production company would
soon sign a development deal

with
20th Century Fox Television.

In classic Ritter form,
he makes a charming video

to personalize his pitch
to executives.

-It's John.

Ritter.

Hey, now,
you've been there a while,

you've looked at 8,000 pilots,

but I'm taking
nothing for granted.

-As the Jack Tripper chapter
of his acting career ends,

Ritter takes a dramatic role
in "Unnatural Causes,"

a TV movie co-executive produced
by Bob Myman.

-John's character was a vet
that was exposed to Agent Orange

when he was in Vietnam,
comes back home,

and eventually develops cancer.

Alfre Woodard played
a veteran's benefits councilor

named Maude DeVictor,

and she decides to try
to help him get benefits,

'cause at that time the V.A.
was denying benefits

as a result of exposure
to Agent Orange.

-Miss DeVictor, look.
I lived with that stuff

for two years,
and now I'm dying of cancer.

You got to talk to me!

-It's a very compelling piece.

-Audiences see
a new side of Ritter,

and as he tells Jane Pauley
on "The Today Show,"

he's not only passionate
about the film,

but the cause, as well.

-It sure did.
You know, um, this Agent Orange

is sort of a metaphor
for the Vietnam War.

As much as we want to ignore it
and pretend it doesn't happen,

it's still living with us,
and, you know,

these guys are affected
by this poisoning,

and I think it's about time
to blow the whistle on it.

We can put a lot of pressure
on the legislature

who could then release the funds
from the V.A.

for these medical benefits
for these symptoms

that now these guys
can't get any medical treatment.

-Is it true, John,
that you think

this is perhaps
the performance of your life?

-Well, it's the most
important thing

because, you know, as an actor,

you always want to feel
that you can make a difference,

and I don't mind making people
laugh for a long time,

but it's really sort of vital
to sort of make people think

and maybe help them
take responsibility.

Because, you know, we have to.
Whether you were

a dove or a hawk
during the Vietnam experience,

now is the time in the '80s
to sort of open up our arms

and say, "Welcome home, guys."

-We were shooting in Toronto,

and I remember the entire crew
standing around and laughing

and John making everybody funny
and laughing,

and doing
what he knew how to do,

and then the action started,
and I looked around the room,

and the entire crew was crying.

He had just changed
the whole tone instantly,

and he was --
as only he could do.

-The New York Times writes
that Ritter plays the character

with gritty intelligence
and toughness.

Washington Post
describes his as palpable,

emotional conviction,
and that the film proves Ritter

can give a tough,
no-nonsense performance.

He is nominated for
his fourth Golden Globe award.

♪♪

-That was one of the first
dramatic things John did,

and he was brilliant in it.

And those of us who were lucky
enough to be with him

in those formative years
and those acting classes,

where we would see him
do dark, extraordinary,

heartbreaking work,

just made me feel proud

and happy for him
that people were seeing that.

-We eventually played the movie
for a congressional committee,

and screened it for vets groups,

and eventually, the V.A.

started including Agent Orange
exposure as a cause of cancer.

♪♪

-The following year,
Ritter and Myman

develop a unique new show
with 20th Century Fox.

-After we started
Adam Productions,

we met with a lot
of different writers

and producers and ideas,
and he met Stephen Bachko,

and Bachko had an idea
for a half-hour show

that he called "Hooperman"
and described to John.

It was a chance to do
a half-hour, single-camera show

that was very unique
at the time.

Now we see those all the time,
but back then, it was unique.

Everybody that did half-hour,
did multi-camera.

This was a single-camera,
half-hour film show.

-Ritter stars
as police inspector

Harry Hooperman,

and the show
pioneers a new genre.

Critics coined
the term "Dramedy"

to describe the both serious
and comic tone of the show.

-Hey, Roger. Roger Bayshore?

Harry Hooperman, SFPD.

-Go to Hell.

-"Go to Hell."
-I heard.

-Single-camera acting is
a very different style than,

like, a "Three's Company"
in front of a studio audience,

where the rhythm
of the punch lines

and playing for the laugh
is very different

and is much more theatrical.

"Hooperman" was --
like any one-camera show,

allows you to have
a bit more nuance.

It had some humor, obviously,

but it also had
some heaviness to it,

and he could just go from one
to the other seamlessly,

and you don't
see that all the time.

-"Hooperman"
only lasts two seasons,

but remains one of Ritter's
favorite roles,

and establishes him

as a multi-faceted actor
and producer.

He is nominated
for another Golden Globe

and wins
a People's Choice award.

-He was great at it.
In drama and comedy,

he could do them both
and mix them.

-Talent is talent.
Genius is genius.

♪♪

-Did you learn from him?

-I learned a lot from him.

I learned a lot from him
because being funny verbally

and then being funny physically,

are usually --
not always put together.

Then to see him do drama
effortlessly and truly...

Pretty amazing.

♪♪

-Ritter's days as an underrated
actor are coming to an end,

especially when he lands
the role of a lifetime

in an Oscar-winning film.

♪♪

♪♪

-Welcome back to "John Ritter:
Behind Closed Doors."

The actor's career in television
has now spanned two decades,

and he continues to push
the envelope on film,

performing in the experimental
"Skin Deep" with Blake Edwards,

and reunites with old friend
Peter Bogdanovich

for "Noises Off."

-Working for Bogdanovich

was something
that he really liked doing.

When I went to visit him
on the set of "Noises Off,"

he said,
"Come watch this video clip,"

and it was the clip
where he runs full tilt,

as fast as he can, into a wall,

and rolls down
two flights of stairs.

-[ Grunts ]

[ Mumbles ]

-And he was so proud
of how he had done that.

-John was so funny in that.

He added so much humor to it.

It was a funny part,
but he made it funnier.

He was brilliant.

-Ritter does not shy away
from mainstream films.

When he's offered the comedy
"Problem Child,"

he takes the role
over the objections

of friend Jack Bender.

-I didn't think
it was good enough for him,

and being protective,

and no offense to
the "Problem Child" people.

[ Chuckles ] They made a movie
that was successful.

What do I know?

But life is strange,
and what paths you cross

that come out of things we say
yes to and things we say no to.

Because I was the guy who
told him not to do that movie,

but that's where he met Amy.

♪♪

-He meets his "Problem Child"
costar Amy Yasbeck

at the film's first table read.

-You met John on a movie set.

You guys
were making "Problem Child"

together in 199--
-A classic.

Like "Casablanca,"
"Citizen Kane," "Problem Child."

-Well, for you guys, it was.

I mean, this is
the beginning of your romance.

What attracted you to him?

-As much as it was
how hilariously funny he is,

and how focused he was,
which is something I lack,

the focus, big-time, is that --
how he treated people,

and how he treated
everyone exactly the same,

which is --
when he just met them,

it was if they were
a long-lost relative or love

that he hadn't seen
in a long time.

-Ritter would separate
from wife Nancy Morgan

and begin dating Yasbeck
in 1994.

Ritter's marriage to Morgan
comes to end in 1996.

Of the divorce,
Ritter tells People Magazine

that he grew apart from Morgan,
but the two remain good friends.

-Nancy is a dear, dear friend,
but I felt,

once I got to know Amy,

that she and John clicked
in a way

that was very special.

-Ritter and Yasbeck
eventually marry in 1999.

♪♪

Tell us a little bit
about that chemistry

that you saw
between him and Amy.

-I'll tell you
what I saw with Amy

is that John was quick
like a firecracker.

His mind would just never stop.

He saw everything
in a comedic mood.

Amy kept up with him.

Amy was as fast as John was.

They were walking down
the street,

and they would be having
a conversation,

and it was as funny as anything
that you have ever seen.

-It's their life.
-Yeah.

I wish I could chat like that.
-[ Laughs ]

-It was like being out
with a comedy troupe.

I mean...[laughs]

It was, you know -- It was
just great to watch

the byplay
between the two of them.

Amy goes 90 miles an hour
anyway, and John could keep up,

but he could also just lay back
and enjoy it, too.

-With Yasbeck,
Ritter becomes a father of four.

What was it like for him
to be a father at 50?

-I think he was delighted.

I think they had a wonderful
connection from the moment

that he was a new dad again.

-Ritter signs on
to do another TV show,

a political comedy
called "Hearts Afire,"

where he meets
Billy Bob Thorton,

who would become a friend
and creative partner to Ritter

for the rest of his life.

-John and Billy
just totally hit it off.

They became great friends.

-The sitcom
lasts three seasons,

but on the side, Thorton
is developing a character, Carl.

-He said that this voice,

this character
kind of came to him,

this mentally-disabled character
who is in this small town,

and so he sort of
started with a character,

and the film came from there.

-Billy said I'm writing
a part for you, 'cause I said,

"Anything you want me to do,
Billy, I'd be honored."

And he said, "It's
a very different kind of a role,

but I want you
to take a shot at this."

And I said, "Whatever you want."

I like men.

Sexually.

-Not funny, "Ha, ha."
Funny queer. Mm-hmm.

-Well, that's a very offensive
way to put it.

It's so touching to me.

Several people from
the gay community, you know,

came up to me, and they said,
"Thank you for being so honest,

and actually sort of
fresh in terms of,

"Yes, he's a homosexual,
but he's not stereotypical."

♪♪

-Ritter plays
Vaughan Cunningham,

a gay store manager
in rural Arkansas.

-Billy entrusted me with this
character who's very fragile,

and that was a great honor,
and I wanted to serve the movie.

-John called me
a couple days in and said,

"You know how I always say
Billy Bob's a genius?"

I said, "Yeah."
He said, "I don't know,

he's introducing
major characters in long shots,

he lets these scenes play out
to their natural end,

he hardly cuts within a scene.

I don't know."
I said, "Oh, okay."

And then a couple days later,
he called me back, and he said,

"I saw the scene
he cut together.

He's a genius. He knows
exactly what he's doing.

He's cutting a film
in the camera as he goes,

and it's just brilliant."

-The film also stars
Dwight Yoakam,

J.T. Walsh, and Robert Duvall,

and despite
its $1 million budget,

it makes $24 million
at the box office.

-Like many people,
when he first came on camera,

I had to blink twice,

'cause I hadn't seen
anything in advance,

and he totally
transformed himself.

He used to make a joke
that he got his hair done

by Maurice's of Little Rock,

but he looked so different,
and it was surprising, at first.

-Ritter's efforts to be
taken seriously as an actor

pay off on a large scale.

Critics and viewers
who have been

watching Ritter's work
for decades

now recognize him
as an Oscar-caliber actor.

-He played a character
that was totally different

from any character he'd played
before, and he was almost --

his acting was so good,
he was almost unrecognizable.

-It showed his range,
that depth,

that he could do drama as easily
as he could do the comedy.

-I love that movie.
I think that's

one of the best movies
ever made.

-Next, Ritter seeks out
another challenge.

The actor, renowned
for his physicality,

takes on a voice role

as beloved children's character
Clifford the Big Red Dog.

-It came out of nowhere
because most of us

associated him
with Jack Tripper,

and he's such a physical actor,

and he had to channel
all that through his voice.

-Ritter receives
four daytime Emmy nominations

for his performance.

-As it turned out,
Clifford was such a huge hit,

and it aired 1,500 times a day
at one point

in the U.S.
on all the various PBS channels.

At one point, Clifford
was making $1 billion a year.

It was a big deal.

-Coming off critical acclaim
for "Sling Blade,"

and commercial success
with Clifford,

Ritter returns to his roots --
live theatre.

He is offered a Broadway role in
Neil Simon's "The Dinner Party."

His costar? Henry Winkler.

The two star
in a nine-month run.

Nine months.

What were those months
like for you

and your friendship with John?

-They went by too quickly.

One day, I did not
do the preparation.

I got cocky.
I knock on the door,

John is the first one
on the stage.

He opens the door,

and I start laughing.

And I laugh.

And he cannot
stop me from laughing.

Now he's whispering to me,

"Get it together.

We're doing a play."

-Was this in front
of the audience?

-In front of a paying audience!
-[ Laughs ]

-I'm -- Never did I not do
my preparation again

in my entire career.

-So, was he the kind of guy
that always did his preparation?

-Always. He was always there.

Really.
-The good student.

-Well, you know what?
The good professional, yeah.

-In June 2001,
Winkler and Ritter

take their final bows.

Jon Lovitz and Larry Miller
assume the roles.

-And I went up to his dressing
room, and he just said,

"Listen, I'm sorry, I just --

I should be out of the dressing
room 'cause it's yours now."

And I said,
"That's right. It is."

And we immediately both
became people we're not.

And it's just real jerks,
and we had so much fun.

Within about 30 seconds,
we were giggling up a storm.

And that's one of the things
I loved about that guy.

He could do it like that.

-Weighing his next move,

Ritter receives a script
for another network sitcom,

casting the father of four
as an overprotective dad.

The show is called

"8 Simple Rules
for Dating My Teenage Daughter."

♪♪

-It was a very kind of
popular pilot at ABC,

and they really wanted us
to get a star to play the role,

and John Ritter came in
and just charmed everyone.

It was an amazing role for him
because he was known

as the boy in '70s
that you didn't want

around your teenage daughters

'cause he was Jack Tripper,
you know, the incurable bad boy.

♪♪

-Ritter is cast
as dad Paul Hennessy,

costarring with Katey Sagal,
Kaley Cuoco,

Amy Davidson,
and Martin Spanjers.

-When I heard John Ritter
was gonna play

my father in "8 Simple Rules,"

I was ecstatic
because I felt like --

I had loved "Three's Company"
so much,

and coming back to comedy as,
like, this bewildered father,

the thought of it
was so brilliant.

You kind of thought, "Oh.
That could be really funny."

And then you saw the magic.

He just embodied that perfect
TV dad that everyone wanted.

-The show is a hit, and Ritter

quickly steps into his role
as dad to its cast and crew.

-He was always trying
to make us laugh.

I mean, I have smile lines,
and they're from John.

When we were shooting the pilot,

he and I were sitting
on the couch,

and we were talking
about something,

and he goes,
"We are so lucky to be working."

And I was like,
"John Ritter is saying that?"

-John walking into the room,

his presence just commanded
your attention.

He wasn't looking
for the attention,

but he had so much love
and energy just exuded from him.

He had so much passion for life,

and it really felt special
from the start.

-We had the table read,
I had just turned 16,

and I wanted to look the part.

I played, like,
this kind of "sexy" 16-year-old,

so I wore this,
like spaghetti-strap shirt,

and had, like,
a bra strap showing.

I'm sitting at the table read,

and John walks in,
and he looks at me,

and he's like,
"You playing my daughter?

Put a sweater on."

And then he just -- he barrels
over in this laughter,

and he took a sweater off
a random person in the room --

I mean, this whole
physical act he did --

pulls it off and puts it on me.

And he goes, "Dress like that
from now on."

And that was it.
And it was -- it was amazing.

That was my introduction to him,

and I was in love
from that moment on.

-I remember Kaley and I,
we were like,

"My God, this guy tells
the same joke over and over.

And he calls them 'bits.'"
And you're like...

-Oh, my God, John and the bits.

He would do the same bits
every day for us,

and you would think
they would start to get boring,

but, no, we would cry laughing.

He would, on the daily,
grab a chip out of a chip bag,

and you'd be sitting
there talking,

and he'd put a chip on his
shoulder, and he'd look at you.

"Do I have a chip
on my shoulder?"

And I -- every time.

And I would just fall over
in this belly laughing.

It would hurt
I would laugh so hard.

-The sitcom pulls
in the largest audience

for any ABC comedy
to kick off a night in a decade.

-The show was,
out of the gate, a big hit.

He was the face of ABC again,
which was lovely,

and there was
a huge audience for it.

People wanted to sit around
with a family

that was like their own.

-"8 Simple Rules" is picked up
for a second season.

The cast is shooting
its fourth episode,

and Ritter has invited
his friends,

Henry Winkler, Larry Miller,

and Peter Bogdanovich
to guest star.

It is a shoot
that will start out joyful,

but end in tragedy.

♪♪

♪♪

-By September, 2003,
54-year-old John Ritter

is enjoying success
as a critically-acclaimed actor

and life with his second wife,

Amy Yasbeck, and his four
children when his hit sitcom

"8 Simple Rules for
Dating My Teenage Daughter"

is picked up
for a second season.

When it comes time to film
season two's fourth episode,

Ritter calls on some old friends
to guest star.

As filming begins,
actors Henry Winkler,

Larry Miller,
and director Peter Bogdanovich

are all on set.

They spoke to us
about that fateful shoot.

How did you get a role
on "8 Simple Rules"?

-I'm sure that John had
something to do with it.

-The episode
we were shooting that week

was one that had the roles
for his best friends,

and so he -- John and I sat
and talked about

really getting his best friends,

to do it,
and it just made him happy.

-He had asked me
to play a part in it,

and of course, I did it for him.
It was fun.

-Sure, he wanted to put me
on five times, 10 times more.

I can't remember exactly.

And Henry Winkler was on.
Peter Bogdanovich was on.

It was quite a show.

-With his TV family
and real-life best friends

surrounding Ritter,
the shoot starts out promising.

-It was a big party all week,
and the reality of it

was it was his daughter's
birthday that day,

it was his birthday coming up,

it was their anniversary,
John and Amy's.

And so it was a really
kind of big week for him.

It was, on both a personal
and professional level,

he was with the people he loved.

-And John and I --
so this is after lunch,

about, oh, 1:30, 2:00,
and all of a sudden,

I just turned around
and hugged him.

It wasn't a guy hug.

"Hey," and slap you
on the back."

I hugged him
for about five seconds

and just held him,
and he laughed,

and said, "What was that for?"

And I said, "I don't know."

And there was about
a five-second pause,

and he said, "Well, all right,
let me get one in,"

and he hugged me, and...

then we finished, and smiled,

and then just
started walking again.

There was nothing to say,

and nothing needed to be said.

-But midway through filming,
Ritter confides in Winkler

that he isn't feeling well.

Take me through that moment.
-He came up to me, and he said,

"You know,
I can't stop sweating.

I'm so -- I'm just sweating.

I'm gonna go
to my dressing room,

and I'm gonna have some water,
maybe lie down."

-That's not like him, right?

-No.

I said, "Oh, okay. All right.

I'll go and memorize my lines
so I won't stink up the room,

I won't embarrass you."

I didn't think much about it.

I thought,
"Well, he'll be better tomorrow

when we shoot tomorrow."

♪♪

I never saw him again.

♪♪

-He said he wasn't feeling
well, and he just wasn't --

I thought he had a stomachache.
He said he had a stomachache.

I thought he had
an upset stomach.

-He was dizzy and light-headed,
and throwing up, and...

♪♪

...and was just kind of weak
and sweating and cold,

which, you know, could be
food poisoning, could be a flu.

You know, we just didn't know
anything at that point.

-Ever the dad,
Ritter stops by to reassure

his TV kids that all is okay.

-I get a knock at my door,
and it's John.

And he'd never done this
on a wrap rehearsal.

I go, "Hi!" I go, "Are you okay?
I heard you're sick."

He goes, "I'm okay. I just want
to talk to you for a second."

And I was like, "Okay," and he
sat down on the couch, he goes,

"I love you."

And I was like,
"I love you, too, silly man."

He goes, "No, I want you
to know I love you."

And I said, "I love you, too."
He goes, "That's it."

And he gave me a hug.

And that was
the last I saw of him.

-I think John, like many of us,
will power through a fever,

or, you know, but I don't think
he had any inkling

that there was
anything like that looming.

♪♪

-But then I heard that
he was going to the hospital,

and that it was
just a precaution.

-He was starting
to go into cold sweats

and a fever,
and then getting very nauseous.

And John would never complain,
and John was never sick,

so the idea
that this was happening

seemed serious enough
that we decided --

there was a hospital
right across the street.

-My phone
just started getting --

binging with messages,

and, uh, the first one
that I got was Flody Suarez,

who's the exec producer
of "8 Simple Rules,"

and he said, you know,
"Hey, John got sick at work.

They took him to the hospital,
and he's really sick."

I think at the time,
they thought it was

a heart attack,
and I said, "I'm on my way."

And then Amy called me,
his wife, and said,

"This is really serious.

They're telling us
he might die."

And then she called me, I said
I'm on my way, and she said...

And she called back again.
They said,

"They're saying he's gonna die."

-Only five hours after arriving
at the hospital,

Ritter is pronounced dead.

What doctors initially treat
as a heart attack

is actually something more --

an acute aortic dissection.

But by the time Ritter
is diagnosed, it is too late.

♪♪

-I lived right across
the street from Disney Studios.

And so after rehearsals and
everything and pre-shooting,

I went home waiting
to hear how he was doing.

The cast come over
to my apartment,

which was across the street
from the set.

-Costar Amy Davidson
is there when the call comes.

-"John died."

And...

I, like...

It was so out-of-body,
and I just, like, wailed.

And then Kaley came over
to Martin's house.

♪♪

And she didn't know yet.

So, and I had --
I was the one -- I told her.

♪♪

-It's almost like your soul
leaves you for a moment,

and you feel really lost,

and the world just lost
a really great person,

and that was tragic.

Um...

Excuse -- I'm sorry.

♪♪

I mean, I was 16 years old
at the time,

and I don't think I really,
really grasped it until...

♪♪

I don't think
I ever really grasped it.

-I remember
dropping to the ground

when they finally
came in and gave the news.

My mind went to his kids.

He was such an amazing dad,
and they were so close,

and it was
a lovely, lovely family,

and just to think
of that being ripped apart

and what they were
gonna have to go through

was really devastating.

-That night, 11:00,
got a call, "We lost John."

♪♪

I couldn't hear
what the man was saying to me.

I had him repeat it 10 times.

I couldn't comprehend
that this unbelievable light,

this being was gone.

♪♪

-The show was called off,

but we all went
to the set, and...

everybody talked about him.
The whole cast.

And, um...

I did, too, of course.

♪♪

I couldn't even believe it.

It's still hard to believe.

♪♪

-I went home that night, and,

well, of course,
people were upset.

Everyone adored him
on that show anywhere he went.

But I went home that night,
and I said to my wife

what happened with me and John
just walking back from lunch.

-She says, "Funny thing,
you're not a big hugger."

And she knew that, and I said,
"But I just hugged him there,"

and she looked at me,

and she said,
"Don't you understand?

That was you...

You got the message.

That on some level, you thought,

'It's time to hug John.'

and...

...and you did."

I thought,
"Well, how do you like that?

I bet that's true."

And I, uh...

John, I hope you don't mind --

I hope you're happy I tell
that story and told it here.

-He fit in 100 years of comedy
in the amount of time

he was on this Earth.

He made you feel
like a million bucks.

He always had this big,
goofy smile on his face,

and he wanted to make you laugh,
and he was kind,

and he was hilarious and warm,
and there was no one like him,

and I don't think
there ever will be.

-The process of comprehending
his loss has only just begun

for his devastated
family and friends.

Meanwhile, network executives
and producers have to decide,

without John Ritter, what would
happen to "8 Simple Rules."

♪♪

-For Ritter's
family and friends,

grief is all-encompassing.

-I just remember,
at the funeral,

we were all just kind of a mess.

It was one of those kind of
being in a fog kind of things,

that clearly,
all these years later still,

it's tough to talk about.

-I told a story at his memorial,
at his funeral,

that one of
the last times I saw him,

I ended up getting tickets
to Bruce Springsteen's concert,

and I go to John,
and John was a huge

Springsteen fan, and he said,
"Yeah, that'll be great.

That'll be great. When is it?
Next Friday?"

And then calls me up, he says,
"Geez, I screwed up."

I said, "What?"

He said, "I promised this kid
I'd come see his play,

and it's Friday night."

And I said,
"So what? Come on!

Can't you, like --
He'll understand."

And John paused and said,
"No, I told him I'd be there.

I'm gonna go."

And what I said
after that story,

'cause I was talking
to his kids at the funeral,

I said,

"And that was your dad."

-It seems like
it's hard for the family, still,

15 years later, to deal with.
-Well, he was such a presence.

You know, he...

There is a void, and that void
is not going to be filled.

-It's almost like your...

soul leaves you for a moment,

and you feel really lost.

It was as if, like, there was
no world beneath your feet.

It wasn't fair, it wasn't right,
it wasn't reality.

-When did it feel real?

I don't know.
It still doesn't feel real.

-Gosh.

I think the real answer to that

is that I don't even think
he's gone now.

Because it's so easy to remember
the joy of working with him.

[ Chuckles ]

It's just so easy,
you know, to --

You don't have
to conjure that back up.

You just think of him.

-Ritter's original
"Three's Company" castmates

had reconnected
with their old friend,

Jack Tripper,
shortly before his death.

-The one thing that
the paparazzi ever did for me

that was an act of kindness.

I passed all this paparazzi,
and one of them said,

"You know, John's inside here."

And I looked back,
and I said, "What?"

And I went, "Oh!" You know?

And I walked a few steps,
and I stopped,

and I thought,
"Joyce Anne, don't be an idiot.

That was a message.
Do not ignore that."

I turned around,
went into my hotel,

and I called,
and I left John a message,

and my phone rang in my room,

and I picked up the phone.
It was Jonathan.

And he goes,
"Baby, we got, like,

three or four parties
we have to make appearances at.

Then, we got a little dinner
we're going to.

Pick you up at 7:00."

We just played an energy
that we had known as kids.

It was only
a very short couple of weeks

before I got the phone call that
John wasn't with us anymore.

So, when I say that
the paparazzi gave me

a great gift that day, they did.

They gave me a great gift
that day.

♪♪

-A month before he died,
I get a phone call,

and I picked up the phone,
he said -- I said, "John?"

He said, "Hey, babe,"
the way he always did.

And then he said,

"I forgive you,"

which, honestly,
it took me a moment.

I had to put on
my big-girl pants and go...

I said, "Thank you."

I thought, "Let it go.
Let it go.

To get mad all over again would
perpetuate this stupid thing."

It was just my ego reacting.

"Say thank you."

I loved hearing
the sound of his voice.

The sound of his voice,
that very last time

I ever heard it,

was very heartfelt
and sweet to me.

What made him call me
one month before he died?

What made him call me
out of the blue?

Out of all those years?

I think that, you know,

something from above
had a hand in it.

I like to think of it that way.

-At ABC, the producers
of "8 Simple Rules"

face a decision about
how or whether

to replace Ritter,
the show's star.

-The show must go on.

That's the word
from ABC officials

just days after the death
of sitcom star John Ritter.

Ritter's show "8 Simple Rules
for Dating My Teenage Daughter"

will apparently live on
minus its biggest name.

-There's no doubt that
he would've wanted us to go on

with the show because of that
very reason, that it was real.

Like, this is
what people go through.

These things happen.

-I thought those kids
were unbelievable.

It was brutal for them
to get back on that stage

and have to do a show about...
[sniffles]

...about losing him again.

-He's supposed to be back
in 10 minutes.

He was running a stupid errand,
he was supposed to be back,

and he was taking us to school.

♪♪

-When Cuoco is given
her own star

on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame,

she asked that it be placed
near John's.

-That was the beginning
of my life, "8 Simple Rules."

That was beginning of comedy,
being with him.

I got to be with the best
comedian in the world,

the most loving comedian
in the world,

the most -- the best
family man in the world,

and that's where I spent
the beginning of my career.

That's what started me.

-Jimmy Kimmel makes good
on a promise he'd made to Ritter

on his first appearance
on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

a few months before his death.

-Tell me about that appearance,
because I know you even had

this whole thing where you went
to his alma mater,

his high school, Hollywood High,
which is right near here,

and you did a sketch
about the famous alumni.

-They have a big mural
of celebrities

painted on the side of the wall.

And John Ritter's face
was not painted up there.

And, of course, as a big fan,

I felt his face
should be up there.

So, I said to him,
"I'm going to make sure

they paint your face
on the side of this building."

-And you made good
on your promise.

It took you five years
to get that mural.

-It took a long time, yeah.

It took a long time
and a lot of hell.

You know, luckily, everyone
I talked to loved John Ritter,

and I really felt like it
was something I had to do,

and you wouldn't believe how
complicated it turned out to be.

I had to go
to the school district.

I had to go to, like,
city council meetings

a couple of different times
to get this done.

But it's --

-So, you were
a man on a mission.

-I was on a weird mission
to fulfill that promise.

♪♪

-The Ritter family,

led by John's widow,
Amy Yasbeck, founds

the John Ritter Foundation
for aortic Health,

channeling their grief
to prevent other families

from suffering
the same devastating loss.

-After John's death, Amy
tried to find out information

about aortic dissection,
and it just wasn't out there.

The John Ritter Foundation's
mission is very simple --

prevent aortic dissections.
-Since his passing,

you've made it your mission
to get out the word

about this undiagnosed
aortic dissection, basically.

-We came up with Ritter Rules

because there are certain things
that will save your life.

Most importantly, to me,

if you have somebody in
your family that has survived,

or is diagnosed with an
aortic aneurysm or dissection,

you are 20% more likely...

-To have it yourself.
-...to have it yourself.

At any age.

-15 years after
her husband's death,

Yasbeck continues
to raise awareness,

speaking in 2018
at the Foundation's

first community symposium.

-When John passed away,
it was really confusing

because what I was kind
of hearing was that,

first of all,
it was a heart defect.

No, it's aorta.
It's not the heart.

Treating him for a heart attack
definitely hastened his passing.

It's not a block.
It's a tear.

It's not the heart.
It's the aorta.

-The risk of aortic dissections
runs in families,

and I urged her to get everybody
in the Ritter family

imaged for an aortic aneurysm.

-As a result,
Ritter's brother, Tommy,

learns that he has
an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm

in the same place
as his late brother's

and has life-saving surgery.

-And he's still alive today
and doing well.

Just knowing that
it can run in families,

we can prevent premature deaths.

-The genetic link is so strong
that doctors now speculate

that Ritter's father, Tex,
may have suffered the same fate.

-He suddenly had the onset
of acute chest pain and died.

And so there is a strong
possibility that Tex Ritter

may have also died
of an acute aortic dissection.

-It was only because of John's
passing that Tommy got checked

and how many other lives
have been saved

by virtue of knowing of this,

but also how many lives
have been lost by people

who don't know about this?

It's really hard to detect
until it's almost too late.

♪♪

-For those who knew him best,

it's Ritter's laughter
that lives on.

-First thing to think of --

that comes to mind
when one thinks of John...

Well, oh, it has to be laughter.

-Laughing.
And laughing with him.

God, he was funny.

-Laughter. Laughter
from everyone around him.

And then his big, beaming smile,
because he had done it.

That was his way
of connecting to the world.

-People say to me,
"I loved John.

Oh, I loved John,"
and I can honestly say,

"Oh, he loved you, too,"
and they're like, "What?"

I'm like, "He really --"

He loved doing what he did
because of the connection.

-To his friends and family,

Ritter often described
a golden thread

that he believed was his way
of connecting to the world.

It was the legacy he hoped to
leave behind in his own words,

read by his friends.

-How John wanted
to be remembered --

"just as a guy interested
in the golden thread...

-"That intertwines
all of us together."

-"You know, that golden thread
that goes through me and you..."

-"And the cameramen
and all the people out there."

-"That's what an artist can do."

-"That's what an artist can do."

Oh, my God,
That's so well-said, Jonathan.

-"If they're willing
to pluck that,

either it
makes you laugh, or..."

-"It makes you cry.

It's that golden thread
of humanity."

-"And I'd like to be remembered
as maybe a guy

who plucked a few of those."

-"Who plucked a few of those."

♪♪

-That's beautiful,
and I remember him

talking about
that golden thread,

and John didn't
just pluck a few.

He was a guy with a harp
in his back pocket.

-And I think when John
pulled the thread,

it made people laugh.

-That's a beautiful legacy,

and John believed in
serving humanity and people,

and that's the way he served.

-15 years later,

what should the world
know about John Ritter?

-If you don't know John,

I would tell you now,
because of all the technology,

you can go back
and discover John.

And when you do --

when you discover
the breadth of his career,

and his ability,

you will know why everyone
loved John Ritter so much.

He was the finest fabric,

the finest silk on the planet.
Truly.

♪♪