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John Ritter died 10 years ago today

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Papytendo

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As today commemorates a terrible day in US history from 12 years ago, it also is the same day that ten years ago, a sitcom legend was taken away too soon.

John is most famously remembered as Jack Tripper from Three's Company, a role he played for all eight seasons of this show. John's most notable trait on this show was his physical comedy, done to make Jack look like the klutz he was written to be. Before his death, he was starring in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. This highly well received show was cited for the reason why the TGIF block on Friday Night on ABC was popular again. However this would not last long, as John died of an aortic dissection after shooting just three episodes of season two. He was also well known as the voice of Clifford the Big Red Dog. He was 54.

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He is definitely missed. I watch Bad Santa every year, and the scenes with both him and Bernie Mac always make me a little sad.
 
Apparently, he had some good friends in my dinky hometown. I waited on his table when I was a busboy in high school. He was wearing sunglasses and had a full beard at the time. I couldn't tell it was him at first. He was a nice guy.
 
Ok, so slightly... not funny.. But an interesting story about this nonetheless.

11 years ago my dad died. I got a call out of the blue some Sunday morning saying that my dad, about 200 miles away, had been taken to the hospital. They didn't know what was wrong but he was going to the ER and they were going to operate and get him stabilized. Well, a three hour drive and around 10 hours later and they never did. He died the next morning.

So a year goes by and probably not a single day passes without me being pissed. 55 years old and he was taken from us just like that.

Then the news comes along that John Ritter died. Like most of the fans in this thread, John Ritter was a part of my growing up. First on first runs of Three's Company, then reruns.. The guy was honestly a modern day Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and I mean that with nothing but the utmost respect for all three. Though the art of pratfall and physical comedy was no longer deemed significant for decades until brought back by Jim Carey and Will Farrel (who neither of which had a thing on Ritter.. Totally lucked out with a right place right time sense of timing), his physical work on Three's Company is some of the best physical work in the history of Hollywood.

So anyway, he dies. Very suddenly, very unexpectedly. His career was getting a second shot in the arm and he was living up to the task.

Well, Ritter died of the same thing my dad did. An aortic dissection. For an entire year I wondered "What if my dad hadn't lived in Podunk USA? What if he was in a big city with real doctors? Was it a correspondence school doctor who couldn't save his life? A part time veterinarian?" Yet here a year later one of the most loved actors in my history died of the same thing in one of the largest cities in the world and a top hospital as well.

Anyway... Thank you to John Ritter. For the decades of laughs, and for giving me personal understanding through his tragic death. For these two things he will forever remain one of the most important celebrities I regard and will have always indirectly played a role at various points in my life.
 
Sucks he was the perfect dad to JD on scrubs though. They even look like a Dad/son and have similar comedic timings.
 
Loved him in Noises Off!, loved him in Skin Deep, loved him on Three's Company & Scrubs. I even liked him in Stay Tuned, although I don't know if I'd still like that movie watching now than in the 1990s.
 
Still remember the 8 Simple Rules mourning episode with peggy, penny and the little redhead one all crying, pretty sad stuff.
 
Loved him in Noises Off!, loved him in Skin Deep, loved him on Three's Company & Scrubs. I even liked him in Stay Tuned, although I don't know if I'd still like that movie watching now than in the 1990s.

Me and my friends recite quotes form Noises Off all the time. Great movie, he was excellent in it.
 
I remember him in 8 Simple Rules. He was one of my favorite TV actors at the time. I still remember when they announced that he had died, and it sucked alot...he was a great actor.
 
Watched an episode today of American Dad where they reference how 8 Simple Rules kept running after he died..made me sad. I watched so much Threes Company as a kid..
 
Loved this guy. Was a huge fan of Threes Company and some of his other works.
 
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