John Ritter

The unexpected death of actor John Ritter, who rose to fame in the 1970s as a wacky bachelor in the hit ABC series "Three's Company," not only shocked fans and colleagues but delivered a powerful blow to the ailing network's hopes of reviving its fortunes through the comedian's latest sitcom. Ritter, 54, became sick Thursday after working on an episode of his ABC series, "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter." He underwent surgery at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and died shortly after 10 p.m. He had an undetected heart flaw, said his publicist, Lisa Kasteler.

"We all have bullies in our lives and we just assume they're evil, but largely I think that kind of behavior comes from somewhere," says Jason Ritter, who plays a neighborhood tough who commits an almost psychopathically vicious act in "The Education of Charlie Banks." "Certainly the bully in my life, as far as I could tell, the house he grew up in was completely devoid of any love. He had all the money in the world, but you walk around his house and it was cold like a museum.

Comic actor John Ritter died on his daughter's 5th birthday in September 2003. The next day, his widow, actress Amy Yasbeck, told the girl that her dad's death was unavoidable. Since then, Yasbeck has come to believe the story she told their daughter Stella was wrong. "The doctors told it to me like I was 5 and I told it to her like she was 5," Yasbeck said in an interview with The Times. "The truth is, it's a lot more complicated and it's a lot more sad."

On the set of "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" in Burbank, actor John Ritter felt queasy. He thought he was suffering from a mild case of food poisoning and wanted to go home, rest, eat crackers and drink 7-Up. Instead, he walked into the emergency room of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank on Sept. 11, 2003, and was pronounced dead four hours later.

In a cameo courtroom appearance, actor Henry Winkler told jurors Wednesday that his friend John Ritter seemed in top form on the set of his television show Sept. 11, 2003, the day he died. By that afternoon, however, Winkler said, he had noticed that Ritter "was sweating. He said, 'You know, I really need to get some water.' That was the last time I saw him."

A Glendale jury on Friday cleared an emergency room doctor of negligence and liability in John Ritter's death, holding he did everything he could to save the comic actor. A physician who examined Ritter two years before he died at age 54 was also held blameless. Jurors said they ignored the aura of celebrity surrounding the civil trial, as well as evidence of Ritter's sterling qualities as a father and actor, in reaching their conclusions.

When John Ritter arrived at the hospital Sept. 11, 2003, he was nauseated and vomiting, and he felt a dull tightening in his chest. Doctors ordered an EKG, which proved inconclusive. But an hour or so later, Ritter's chest tightness was worse, and a second EKG was more dire. Besides, his blood pressure had gone down, his heart rate had gone up, and he seemed to be developing congestion in his lungs. These were all signs of a man having a heart attack.

The family of John Ritter has reached a tentative settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Burbank medical center where the actor died, an attorney for the hospital said. "There is an agreement in principle," attorney Rory Hernandez said Wednesday. Hearings will be held to finalize the agreement, he said, with the next court session set for today. Hernandez declined to disclose details of the settlement.

A posthumous nomination for John Ritter is the TV industry's way of bidding a fond farewell to one of its favorites. The move seems sentimental. Ritter, nominated for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for ABC's "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," died unexpectedly at the age of 55 on Sept. 11, 2003, after completing only three episodes of the sitcom's sophomore season.

The family of television star John Ritter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital and medical staff who treated the 54-year-old actor after he collapsed on the set of the ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" last year. The suit, filed Sept.