More than two decades have passed since John Ritter’s sudden death, but for fans who recently watched his sons Jason and Tyler together, the resemblance felt almost like seeing the beloved Three’s Company star again.
Jason Ritter is now 46. His younger brother Tyler is 41. Both eventually followed their father into acting, and recent appearances have prompted an emotional wave of reactions from viewers struck by how much of John they can see — and hear — in his sons.
One viewer called Jason’s resemblance to his father “scary,” while others argued that each brother resembles John at a different point in his life. Another reaction went even further: they don’t simply look like him, the commenter observed — they “talk like him,” too. (ondoho.com)
And Jason himself admits that the older he gets, the more often he catches glimpses of his father in his own expressions and mannerisms. (People.com)
John’s sons were still young when they lost him
John married actress Nancy Morgan in 1977, and they welcomed three children together: Jason, Carly and Tyler.
Jason was born in February 1980, while Tyler arrived five years later in January 1985. John later married actress Amy Yasbeck, with whom he had his youngest child, Noah. (Wikipedia)
The family photograph now circulating online captures John beside Nancy and their two young sons, long before either boy had established an acting career of his own.
Jason was 23 when his father died.
Tyler was only 18.
On September 11, 2003, John became ill while rehearsing for his ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules. He was taken to a hospital but died that evening from an aortic dissection. He was 54, just six days short of his 55th birthday. (Us)
For his children, the loss was obviously far more than the death of a famous television star.
They had lost their dad.
But as Jason and Tyler grew older, something extraordinary began happening.
They started looking more and more like him.
Fans see John in both brothers — but in different ways
Put recent photographs of Jason and Tyler beside photographs of John, and the family resemblance is difficult to miss.
Jason shares many of his father’s facial expressions, particularly the broad smile and expressive eyes that became such a recognizable part of John’s performances.
Tyler has his own striking resemblance.
Fans discussing the brothers have pointed out that Tyler can resemble the younger John, while Jason sometimes recalls his father during his later years. Others say each brother appears to have inherited different pieces of the same face. (ondoho.com)
One fan described it simply: both sons look like John, “but in different ways.”
Another was amazed by more than their faces, commenting that they look like him and talk like him. (ondoho.com)
Those similarities aren’t entirely in fans’ imaginations.
Jason has noticed them himself.
Jason says he increasingly sees his father in himself
At 46, Jason has reached an age his father never got to see him become.
And something has changed.
During a recent interview, Jason explained that as he gets older, he increasingly recognizes his father’s mannerisms and expressions emerging in himself. (People.com)
Sometimes it happens during auditions.
Jason will perform a scene and something unexpected comes out — a movement, expression or comedic instinct that reminds him of John.
He doesn’t necessarily plan it.
Yet those moments can sometimes become the strongest parts of his auditions.
It’s an unusual inheritance for an actor.
Jason isn’t deliberately impersonating his father. But after growing up watching him, being raised by him and sharing his DNA, pieces of John’s performance style occasionally seem to appear naturally.
Fans notice it too.
And that hasn’t always been easy for Jason.
Being John Ritter’s son once made comedy auditions terrifying
Today, comparisons with his father can feel affectionate.
Early in Jason’s career, they could feel overwhelming.
Jason recently recalled walking into comedy auditions and hearing producers immediately bring up John.
They would tell him how funny his father had been — sometimes describing how John could enter a room and have everyone laughing almost instantly.
Then Jason had to audition.
The pressure was enormous.
He remembered his hands shaking during some comedy auditions because he felt he was being measured against one of television’s most celebrated physical comedians. (People.com)
Dramatic auditions were easier.
There, Jason didn’t feel as though everyone was waiting for him to become John Ritter.
Over time, though, he established an identity of his own.
Jason appeared in Joan of Arcadia, Parenthood, Gravity Falls, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Raising Dion and, more recently, Matlock. His performance on Parenthood earned him an Emmy nomination. (Wikipedia)
Eventually, being John’s son became less about trying to meet an impossible expectation and more about appreciating what his father had left behind.
Tyler took a very different road to acting
Tyler’s relationship with the family profession was more complicated.
He had performed in school plays and student films, but after John’s sudden death in 2003, Tyler initially decided not to pursue acting professionally. (Wikipedia)
Instead, he moved away from Hollywood and spent time teaching in Argentina.
Eventually, however, acting pulled him back.
Tyler went on to star as Ronny McCarthy in the CBS sitcom The McCarthys and later appeared in shows including Arrow, The Good Doctor and other television projects.
Suddenly there weren’t one but two Ritter sons appearing on television.
And viewers who remembered John immediately noticed something familiar.
Their father’s shadow never completely disappeared
John Ritter wasn’t simply a successful actor.
For a generation of television viewers, Jack Tripper became one of sitcom history’s defining characters.
Three’s Company ran from 1977 until 1984, with John starring alongside Joyce DeWitt and, during the show’s early years, Suzanne Somers.
His physical comedy was central to the series.
John could turn tripping over furniture, overhearing half a conversation or trying desperately to conceal a misunderstanding into an entire scene.
His performance earned him both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Even fellow comedy legends recognized how unusual his abilities were. John remained known particularly for the combination of slapstick, timing and expressive physical acting that made Jack Tripper instantly recognizable. (Wikipedia)
That created a complicated inheritance for his sons.
They inherited his name.
They inherited his profession.
And, as viewers keep pointing out, they inherited a remarkable number of his expressions.
Jason keeps discovering a father he thought he already knew
One of the most moving parts of Jason’s relationship with John’s legacy happens when he watches old interviews.
There are now countless clips of John available online — interviews, television appearances, behind-the-scenes footage and performances that Jason may never have seen while his father was alive.
Watching them allows him to encounter unfamiliar pieces of John.
Jason recently explained that this experience has changed the way he thinks about his own daughter.
He shares a 7-year-old daughter with actress Melanie Lynskey, and he knows she may someday do exactly what he does now: search for old interviews with her father and discover versions of him she never personally knew. (People.com)
That realization has made John’s legacy feel less abstract.
Jason has seen how people still respond to his father 23 years after his death.
Fans approach him with stories.
They tell him that John made them laugh.
They describe favorite episodes and performances.
And Jason hopes that whatever body of work he leaves behind will someday give his own daughter something similarly warm to discover. (People.com)
The resemblance is only one part of the legacy they inherited
Jason and Tyler also share something far more serious because of their father.
After John died from an aortic dissection, his widow, Amy Yasbeck, established the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health.
John’s children have remained involved in the foundation, and Jason recently revealed that he and his siblings undergo yearly health screenings because of their family history. (People.com)
For Jason, those screenings unexpectedly uncovered another medical issue.
About two years ago, he learned that he had type 1 diabetes.
He now uses insulin and an insulin pump and has spoken about becoming much more attentive to his health — particularly because he wants to be around for his daughter. (People.com)
Tyler has also spoken publicly about the importance of understanding the Ritter family’s medical history.
So while the brothers inherited the smile, expressions and acting genes that fans love pointing out, their father’s death also left them with a very different legacy: an awareness that knowing family medical history can matter enormously.
John’s old co-stars still remain part of the family’s world
More than two decades after John’s death, people who worked with him continue to show up for his family.
Jason recently said he remains close with several members of his father’s 8 Simple Rules cast, including Kaley Cuoco, Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers and Katey Sagal.
He described a particularly unusual bond with the actors who played John’s television children.
In Jason’s words, it almost feels as though they all lost the same dad at the same time. (Us)
They had known John as their television father.
Jason knew him as his actual father.
After his death, those two worlds became permanently connected.
Joyce DeWitt has remained connected as well. At a recent John Ritter Foundation event, she remembered the extraordinary physical chemistry she shared with John during Three’s Company. (People.com)
She also recalled how he could destroy the cast with laughter during rehearsals, turning even tiny improvised jokes into memorable moments. (People.com)
Those stories give Jason and Tyler something increasingly precious: memories of their father from people who knew versions of him they never saw.
Jason is now only eight years younger than John was when he died
There is something particularly striking about seeing Jason at 46 today.
John was only 54 when he died.
That means Jason is approaching the period of life he remembers as his father’s final years.
Perhaps that helps explain why the similarities feel more visible now.
The boy in old family photographs has become a middle-aged father himself.
His face has matured.
His expressions have changed.
And suddenly, when he smiles or reacts in a certain way, fans see John.
Tyler, at 41, has experienced a similar transformation.
Look at childhood photographs of the brothers beside their father, then compare them with pictures of Jason and Tyler today, and the resemblance seems to unfold gradually across decades.
Two sons, two different echoes of the same father
Jason and Tyler never became copies of John.
Their careers are different.
Their personalities are their own.
Even their paths toward acting were dramatically different.
But more than 20 years after losing him, both carry little reminders of their father that strangers can apparently recognize instantly.
A smile.
A facial expression.
The shape of their eyes.
A particular cadence when they speak.
A spontaneous movement during a scene.
Jason himself now notices those moments more often as he gets older. (People.com)
And perhaps that’s why recent footage of the brothers has touched so many longtime fans.
John Ritter died in 2003, but the people who grew up laughing at Jack Tripper haven’t forgotten what he looked or sounded like.
Then Jason and Tyler appear together.
One viewer sees John’s younger face in Tyler.
Another sees the older John in Jason.
Someone else hears his voice.
And suddenly, for a moment, the resemblance feels almost startling.
As one fan put it, “They look like him… talk like him.” (ondoho.com)
Twenty-three years after John Ritter’s death, pieces of the actor people loved are still unmistakably visible — in the two sons standing where those little boys in the old family photographs once stood.
For more on John Ritter’s legacy, learn about the condition that tragically took his life at 54, or take a peek inside Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin’s surprisingly “normal” Beverly Hills home.
