Ritter became ill Thursday while working on his
He died shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, publicist Lisa Kasteler said. He was accompanied by producers, co-workers, his wife and his 23-year-old son, Jason, said Susan Wilcox, his assistant of 22 years.
Ritter's youngest child, Stella, turned 5 the day he died. His 55th birthday was next Wednesday.
The son of Tex Ritter, a Western film star and country musician, Ritter was an effortless funnyman who -- given the chance -- could handle
"It's like there is a big tear in the world's heart," actor
Winkler, who co-starred with Ritter on Broadway in
No decision had been made Friday about the future of "8 Simple Rules...," which was to begin its second season Sept. 23, an ABC spokesman said. It's one of the few bright spots in the struggling network's lineup. Three new episodes had already been filmed, and Ritter was working on the fourth when he fell ill.
"All of us at ABC, Touchstone Television and
"He was more than a comic," Simon said in a statement. "He was a real actor with a genius for comedy. I loved his performance in 'The Dinner Party.'"
"I'm shocked and heartbroken and so sad for his family. I cannot find words to express my sorrow -- such a great loss to the joy in the world,"
The sitcom, which aired from 1977-84 and brought a new level of risque humor to TV, was the No. 1 comedy in the 1979-80 season and regularly part of the top 10.
Ritter played a handsome but goofy bachelor who hinted he was gay so he could live with his two female roommates without raising eyebrows. Sexual double-entendres were the order of the day.
Behind the scenes, Somers' money demands led to clashes with Ritter and DeWitt, and she was eventually written off the show. Somers she had reconciled with Ritter at the request of his wife, actress
"If we had not, today would be unbearable for me," Somers said in a statement. "I am glad I knew him. I am privileged to have worked with him. I am unbelievably sad for his family, and I will miss him."
"It's just stunning, unbelievable," said Wilcox, his assistant. "Everybody loved John Ritter. Everybody loved working with him. ... Whatever set he was working on, he made it a very fun place."
Ritter, a Southern California native who lived in
The youngest son of Tex Ritter and actress Dorothy Fay, he graduated from
"I was the class clown, but I was also student body president in high school," he told
He received an Emmy,
Ritter, whose first steady acting job was a role as the minister in "The Waltons," appeared in more than 50 plays nationwide and won critical acclaim for his recent nine-month run in "The Dinner Party." He had a memorable turn in
After "Three's Company" ended, Ritter worried about falling into a typecasting trap.
"I would get scripts about 'a young swinging bachelor on the make,' and I said 'No, I've done that,'" he told the AP. "What I was looking for in my time off was something a little bit different, a little serious, or funny in a different way."
Ritter described his time on "Three's Company" as an education in quick-study acting.
"When the curtain went up, no matter how long you've studied or haven't studied at all, you had to answer to the audience. We didn't do retakes. If there was a (microphone) boom in the shot, so be it," he said.
Ritter later starred in the TV series "Hooperman" and the early 1990s political comedy "Hearts Afire." He received multiple Emmy nominations for his
His TV movie appearances included "Unnatural Causes,"
Ritter won popularity among independent film directors in recent years and, besides "Sling Blade," appeared in "Tadpole" in 2002 and the new feature "Manhood." He appears alongside Thornton in Miramax's scheduled November release of "Bad Santa."
Ritter was married from 1977 to 1996 to Nancy Morgan, the mother of his three oldest children. He married Yasbeck in 1999. In addition to son Jason and daughter Stella, he is survived by two other children, Carly and Tyler.
Funeral plans were pending.