John Ritter & other Celebrity Obits R.I.P

Friday, September 12th, 2003 

Having to say goodbye is getting tiring (RIP Cash and Ritter and continued RIPs to all the others we lost this year) Many are deeply mourning Johnny Cash.  Others still getting over Warren Zevon.  I'm sure somewhere there are people even still trying to cope with the death of Charles Bronson, why I couldn't say, but I'm sure they are, but really, didn't they know?  Bronson had a Death Wish (yes that was supposed to be a really, really bad joke).  There's still pain over Gregory Hines.  Still suffering from the murder of Jam Master Jay.  I'm personally still reeling from Douglas Adam's sudden death over two years ago, especially with his posthumous book "Salmon of Doubt" just coming out in paperback edition this week. See, with Cash and Zevon it wasn't sudden, we all knew, both men had been sick for a while.  Gregory Hines had also been ill for quite a long time. But not Douglas Adams, and not John Ritter, those were sudden, too sudden.

John Ritter's death is so out of the blue, making it heavily tragic.  It duals as another tragedy for me because it means another major influence of mine has passed on.  While his physical comedy genius and mugging for the camera on Three's Company was what first caught my eye. I also appreciated his low key, perfect timing on Hearts Afire.  His dramatic abilities on his first major stint "The Waltons" are inspiring for any actor. He was truly just a well rounded performer.  Adept at going all out and not afraid to take risks. Proven by doing work like "Stay Tuned" which is one of the most underrated films ever and even going for the true physical comedy leap with "Problem Child", and you can hate them all you want they were fairly successful and Ritter saved them from being completely drek.  His work in films like "Skin Deep" cemented his broadness as an actor for me and his calm, relaxed performance when he played L. Frank Baum in that OZ biography was fascinating.  The fact that he continued working making turns in everything from "Sling Blade" to "Ally Mcbeal" to "Bride of Chucky", and then to return to TV last year in another low-key role cements his perseverance as an actor.  Now I didn't ever actually watch "8 Rules" that I can recall, but it was successful, which was great for Ritter and he was doing other work on the side still and at 54 I'm sure he had more comedic and fun turns left in his career yet.  I think a show with him and Yasbeck would of been great eventually, especially if he took prat falls or some type of physical comedy moves and maybe Chevy Chase could of been his best friend.  I know some of you are know shivering at the thought of Chase and Ritter, but I happen to really love Fletch and National Lampoon Vacation films and I think John and Chevy would of been comedic gold.  It won't happen now though.  Nor will the Suzanne Somers/John Ritter performance reunion, not that I was really looking forward to that, she was one of the things I hated about "Step by Step", the only good thing she brought to that show was her incredible body.  In a conclusion or some such to this paragraph I think my favorite John Ritter role ever was when he started appearing on the Richard Lewis/Jamie Lee Curtis show "Anything but Love" starting in its third season.

Something I find fascinating is that this country lost two of its legends on what is now officially the most patriotic day of the American history or some such, I guess, I'm not really.  Jimmy Kimmel said he thinks it should be a National Holiday and said it with sincerity, so that's got to be some kind of "bar" if how you know you're supposed to feel about it.  I personally don't agree, and I'm not really sure Johnny Cash or John Ritter appreciate the irony or not, I can't say for sure, but it's still ironic that it is.  Sometimes, that's the way it is though and you flip over 
yourself and hope everything will be okay tomorrow.