‘Three’s Company’ Star Richard Kline Shares Memories of Working and Being Friends With John Ritter

John Ritter: “Good Guy”

One of the phrases Richard used to describe John was “good guy,” and that really does seem to be a common theme: You would be hard-pressed to find anyone that has a bad thing to say about John, and not just because he’s no longer with us. “The show was called Three’s Company,” says Richard, “but it might as well have been called The John Ritter Show, because, I mean, he drove the physical comedy. He was the star of the show no matter how many blondes came and went. Through the years people who had worked on that show that I may have run into or read in print, said what a friendly set it was. And the reason it was a friendly set is because there was no egomaniac at the top. John was very gracious to everyone on the show, and that really burnished his reputation.”

The Calm Among the Chaos

The surprising thing about hearing that is it would seem difficult for an actor to maintain that sort of attitude on the set while behind the scenes chaos was beginning to reign. In particular this was due to contract negotiations with actress Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow on the series, that would ultimately see her part diminished and then cut out altogether. “That’s a separate issue as far as I’m concerned,” Richard explains. “That’s an employment issue that had nothing to do with the relationships on or off the set, really. I mean, during the height of the crisis, yeah, of course, it affected the relationships. But John was known for his charity work as well with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation and whatever. He just had this great persona of being a generally outgoing, down-to-earth guy. You never got any sense of massive ego with John. At least not when I was with him.”

Separate But Connected

Three’s Company ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984, after which the cast — as frequently happens — went their separate ways, despite many of the audiences believing that a bond has been created that will last the rest of the casts’ lives. “For a while there we stayed friends, but, no, not really,” he differs. “But then later — much later, actually — about a year or two before he passed, we sort of reconnected. I mean, when you’re on a show for eight years, five days a week, you see a lot of that person and they have their own lives. We weren’t with wives and friends at dinner parties. None of that. My last encounter with John was he and I, and his brother, Tom, went to a Dodgers game in August before the September that he passed. And we had a great time. He also came to see me in a show down in the Pacific Palisades, which I was quite thrilled about. It was a schlepp from Los Angeles down to the Palisades, but he did it. And we had a great visit. But, overall, we were pretty much ‘set pals.’”

What was gratifying to Richard was the fact that despite the years that had passed, John essentially remained true to himself. “Same guy,” he smiles. “He just put on some weight and grew a beard, but other than that, he was the same John. I mean, I visited him on the set of 8 Simple Rules. While I was there, he introduced me to the audience and then he took back to his dressing room, where, oddly enough, he was being visited by Cybill Shepherd and [director] Peter Bogdanovich [with whom he had worked on the feature film They All Laughed]. But he was the same John; just some very funny stuff.”

John’s Connection With the Audience

Throughout his career, John seemed to have connected fairly effortlessly with the audience, which is probably why they felt such pain and a sense of loss when he passed away. “He was just the all-American boy,” Richard offers in explanation for that connection he forged. “The guy you would want, if you were a mother, to marry your daughter. The guy you would want on your softball team. The guy you’d want to go with if you were into hunting and fishing. Because, physically, if you look at him, he looked like the all-American guy. There was nothing charactery about John. He was a handsome, funny dude. And he emanated goodwill. If you were to look at his resume, I think you’d see that he never played a villain-villain. In Sling Blade it was a totally out of the box character that he played, and he was in a lot of romantic movies of the week, but nothing where he was a killer. Because you couldn’t buy John Ritter as a killer. Or a criminal.”

He points out that an actor John was often compared to was Dick Van Dyke, “because of his physical comedy. But with all due respect to Dick Van Dyke, I don’t think Dick Van Dyke had the chops to do the kind of dramatic work that John did. John’s a university trained actor. People did eventually start to recognize that and give him credit for that. But you can’t escape the notoriety, and worldwide notoriety, of Three’s Company. Who knew that this show would still be rerun 40-some odd years later? It’s insane.

“That fact,” he continues, “is completely mind-blowing to me. And it’s right up there, as far as longevity, with I Love Lucy. Ironically, of course, Lucy hosted a five-year retrospective on our show and I had no idea we’d even go that far. When I was doing the show, I thought it was silly and that we were only doing cartoon stuff. And even though the audience ate it up and we were number one and all that, I never really kind of got to like the show until years later when watching reruns, and realizing that that was some funny stuff we did.”

Which raises the question of why it’s enjoyed such longevity. “It was never topical,” he suggests. “I mean, kudos to Archie Bunker, All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place for dealing with sensitive issues. And Norman Lear — that’s his M.O., to take social issues and entwine them into comedy. I sound like some sort of TV historian. Anyway, there was never any attempt to be topical. It was all about paying the rent and misunderstandings, and is he gay or is he not gay? And falling over couches. Basically that’s hilarious stuff when it’s done well.”

The Trifecta

When Three’s Company ended, John Ritter moved over to the spinoff show Three’s a Crowd, which continued the adventures of Jack Tripper, but Richard was more than happy not to do so. “Here’s what happened,” he details. “When the show was ending, I auditioned for a series called His and Hers for CBS and was cast opposite Shelley Fabares. Simultaneously, the producers offered me 10 out of 13 episodes of Three’s a Crowd, which I turned down, because it was, like, ‘You do a pilot for CBS and you’re the star with Shelley Fabares? Why not?’ But they had me back to do one guest spot on Three’s a Crowd to visit Jack and his new wife. Somebody told me — interviewers like to bring this up — that I was on all three shows: Three’s Company, The Ropers and Three’s a Crowd.”

Life Beyond ‘Three’s Company’

When a successful show like Three’s Company comes to a close, a leading man like John, who is, if you’ll pardon the expression, at the top of the food chain, will likely find work. What about a supporting player like Richard? “Here’s the thing,” he says. “When you’re on a hit show like that, then the network, which was ABC, will cross-pollinate you. I did four episodes of The Love Boat. You’re always asked to do guest appearances; I did a guest spot on One Day at a Time. So after Three’s Company, I got hired. There is this stigma to it, but there’s a plus side to it. You also get hired for these theater companies who plug it, like, ‘Richard Kline From Three’s Company,’ and it’s a 600 seat dinner theater in Kansas. Why not? Everybody does it. But I also had a dramatic resume as well: Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, NYPD Blue. So I’m sure I was typecast — I don’t doubt it for a second — but I never suffered. I did a lot of theater and I’m still doing theater, which is my first love.”

The Legacy of John Ritter

As the conversation turns back to John Ritter, the question asked is one regarding John’s legacy and how Richard would describe it. “I think his legacy is providing laughs for millions and millions of people,” he replies without a beat. “Genuine belly laughs for millions of people. He has a terrific resume in the dramatic and the comedic, but he will be ever associated with Jack Tripper. I can’t tell you how many people over the years said to me, ‘Oh, thank you for the laughs.’ ‘I learned the English language watching your show.’ Whatever it may be. It’s a freaking phenomenon. And I still sort of can’t get it. His legacy …. It’s like Game of Thrones, except it’s Game of Comedians. He’s up there as one of the kings of comedy. I’m his Tyrion; I’m the dwarf who comes in and says, ‘Jack, let’s go to the Regal Beagle, and we’ll meet Cersei and have a martini.’”

We’re thinking it sounds like the making of a whole new spinoff. “I think it’s time for me to take my meds,” laughs Richard.