Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, comedian, and voice-over artist. Ritter was best known for playing Jack Tripper on the hit ABC sitcom Three's Company, for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award in 1984. He was the son of famous country/western star Tex Ritter, and the father of actor Jason Ritter. Ritter appeared in hundreds of films and television shows/episodes combined, including It, Problem Child, Problem Child 2 and Bad Santa in 2003. Prior to Clifford's Really Big Movie, Ritter received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for his voice work on the children's television series, Clifford the Big Red Dog, in addition to many other awards Ritter was nominated for or won. Don Knotts called Ritter the "greatest physical comedian on the planet". Ritter died from an aortic dissection on September 11, 2003. His death occurred shortly after the production of an episode for the second season of 8 Simple Rules. 

September 17th, 1948 in Burbank  /  Died:   Sep 11th, 2003 - heart problem