Hooperman helps Ritter shake Jack Tripper label

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 18

Hooperman helps Ritter shake Jack Tripper label

Major success in a longrunning TV series always carries the risk of typecasting for the stars of the show. John Ritter, star of “Three’s Company,” recognised this as long ago as 1982, when that show was at its height. In an interview, he said quite plainly; "I don’t want to go down in history as Jack Tripper.”

His new series, “Hooperman," a story of a troubled San Francisco cop, screening tonight at 8.30 on Two, offers him his first real chance to shake off the Jack Tripper label.

Ritter, aged 40; has been acting for 20 years. His career began when he went to the 1968 Edinburgh Festival with a group from the University of Southern California, where he was originally planning a career as a psychologist. i After graduating from U.S.C., Ritter went straight into summer rep. productions, appearing in "Desire under the Elms” with Eva-Marie Saint.

John is the youngest son of the late country-and-western singer, Tex Ritter,

Stage work was John’s bread-and-butter throughout the late sixties and early seventies. His first introduction to television came with a small role in an episode of “Dan August,” a critically acclaimed but short-lived detective series starring Burt Reynolds. He followed this with guest roles in such shows as “Hawaii Five-O,” “M*A*S*H,” “Starsky and Hutch," and “Rhoda,” and then landed a recurring role as the Reverend Fordwick in the longrunning family drama, “The Waltons." Since then, he has never been short of work, being an actor who can move easily between television, stage and cinema. His TV movies include: "In Love with an Older Woman,” "Sunset Limousine” and “Unnatural Causes," and his feature ’ films include: “Hero at Large” and "They All Laughed,” with Audrey Hepburn and Ben Gazzara.

Away from the screen, Ritter and his family are heavily involved in charity work for the United Cerebral Palsy Association.

Ritter now has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame next to his father’s, and his other accolades include an Emmy and a Golden Globe award — both for "Three’s Company."