The John Ritter Only We Knew

THE COMEDIAN'S FAMILY AND CO-STARS SHARE FAVORITE MEMORIES 20 YEARS AFTER HIS PASSING

- LOUISE A. BARILE

Amy Yasbeck jokes that she, with her late husband John Ritter’s children, remember him by “acting like idiots” together. “We celebrate our burps and farts, falls and slips, just constantly doing bits,” she tells Closer. John’s oldest son, Jason Ritter, even sends her jokes by text. “We do puns back and forth until we’re exhausted,” she says.

Twenty years after his death at age 54 from aortic dissection, a sudden tear in the heart’s main artery, John’s memory is very much alive. His family, close friends and co-stars from Three’s Company and 8 Simple Rules recently came together at the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health’s An Evening From the Heart celebration. “John was just pure human loveliness,” says actress Holly Robinson Peete, a close friend of Amy and John. “Even though he was such a big star, he always looked you in the eye, connected with you, and made you feel like you’re the only one in the room.”

FUNNY BUSINESS

The son of singing cowboy and film star Tex Ritter and his actress wife, Dorothy Fay, John seemed destined for show business. “John was always playing a part, even as a little boy,” his mother remembered.

John started off his career doing TV guest spots on series, including M*A*S*H and Hawaii Five-O, before he landed a recurring role on