Hollywood was left stunned when beloved Three’s Company star John Ritter died just hours after suddenly falling ill during rehearsals — and the shocking circumstances surrounding his death would later spark a bitter legal battle.
Ritter, one of television’s most recognizable comedy stars, was just 54 when he collapsed while working on his ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter in September 2003.
What initially appeared to be a heart attack turned out to be something far more deadly.
The actor was actually suffering from an aortic dissection, a catastrophic tear in the body’s main artery that can become fatal within minutes or hours.
His wife, actress Amy Yasbeck, later argued that doctors failed to identify the danger quickly enough.
“John didn’t have a chance,” she said. “He was never given that chance.”
The tragedy unfolded on September 11, just days before Ritter was due to celebrate his 55th birthday.
He had been rehearsing at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California, when he suddenly became nauseous and began sweating heavily.
Then came severe chest pain and vomiting.
Ritter was rushed across the street to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center — the same hospital where he had been born decades earlier.
He arrived at around 6 p.m.
By 10:48 p.m., he was dead.
Doctors initially believed the sitcom star was suffering a heart attack and treated him accordingly.
But as Ritter’s condition rapidly deteriorated, physicians eventually discovered that he had an aortic dissection.
The dangerous condition occurs when a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta, allowing blood to surge between the layers of the artery wall and force them apart.
Ritter was rushed into emergency surgery, but doctors were unable to save him.
The sudden death sent shockwaves through Hollywood.
Ritter had become a household name playing the hilariously accident-prone Jack Tripper on Three’s Company, which aired from 1977 to 1984.
His performance earned him both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe and helped make him one of the most beloved sitcom stars of his generation.
But after his death, attention quickly turned to whether his fatal condition should have been detected sooner.
Yasbeck filed a negligence lawsuit involving the hospital and pursued wrongful death claims against two doctors.
One physician had treated Ritter on the night of his death.
Another had examined results from a body scan Ritter underwent in 2001, which the family alleged showed warning signs involving his aorta.
Several defendants eventually reached settlements with Ritter’s family totaling approximately $14 million.
The claims against the two doctors went before a jury.
Jurors ultimately ruled 9-3 in favor of the physicians, clearing both of wrongdoing.
But Yasbeck remained convinced that her husband might have survived if his condition had been identified earlier.
His devastating death came at a time when Ritter was enjoying a major television comeback.
After decades in Hollywood, he had landed another starring sitcom role in 8 Simple Rules, playing family patriarch Paul Hennessy.
The series continued after his death and addressed the loss of Ritter’s character on screen.
Ritter left behind four children, and several later followed him into Hollywood.
His son Jason Ritter became a successful actor in his own right, earning an Emmy nomination for Parenthood and appearing in Joan of Arcadia, Gravity Falls and Frozen 2.
Another son, Tyler Ritter, went on to appear in shows including NCIS, Modern Family and The McCarthys.
More than two decades later, Ritter’s shocking final hours continue to haunt fans — a beloved television star going from a normal day of rehearsals to an emergency operating room in the space of just a few hours.
For his family, the questions surrounding what happened that night made the loss even harder.
And for Yasbeck, one belief has never changed: her husband should have had more time.
