When Three’s Company star John Ritter abruptly passed away 16 years ago, the world was stunned. The actor, who was only 54, had been shooting an episode of the sitcom 8 Simple Rules when he was stricken by chest pains. Rushed to the hospital, he would die later that day of complications arising from an aortic dissection. Frankly, no one could believe it.
“And I will never forget the ending,” Marty adds with a warm smile, “when you were totally spent at the end of the evening and everyone had spoken about him, when all of a sudden the back doors of the movie theater opened up and in came the start of what was a hundred-piece marching band from USC in full regalia. They got everybody — probably 200 people — on their feet and marching out on to Hollywood Boulevard with them holding up traffic and going across the street to a bowling alley. There, there was food and whatever, and it was an amazing experience, because even when John passed away in such a sad way, we were all still overwhelmingly moved and laughing and having fun.”
Which doesn’t surprise Richard Kline — John’s Three Company costar, who played best pal Larry Dallas — in the least. That’s evident when we ask him his thoughts at the mention of John’s name: “Friend. Comedy genius. All around good guy. Great father. Baseball fan. Beatles fan; huge Beatles fan … So many things come to mind.”