Jason Ritter has found an unexpected way to learn more about his father more than two decades after John Ritter’s death, old interviews he has never seen before.
The Matlock actor told People at Warner Bros. Television Group’s Emmy nominees celebration that those discoveries now affect the way he thinks about his own interviews. Jason shares a 7-year-old daughter with his wife, Melanie Lynskey, and he sometimes imagines her searching for clips of him years from now.
John died in 2003, when Jason was 23. Even now, Jason said strangers approach him with stories about the actor and the laughter and joy he brought into their lives.
He joked that his father was a “little Johnny Appleseed of kindness” because the memories people share with him are overwhelmingly affectionate.
Fans Still Tell Jason Ritter Stories About His Dad
John Ritter died on Sept. 11, 2003, after becoming ill while working on 8 Simple Rules. He was 54. What was initially treated as a heart attack was later identified as an aortic dissection, according to The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, which his widow Amy Yasbeck established weeks after his death.
For Jason, however, much of his father’s legacy arrives through people. He told People that strangers still stop him and describe encounters with John or explain how his work affected them. Jason said he considers himself fortunate that those stories tend to be about kindness, humor and positive experiences rather than behavior he has to defend.
His defining television roles included Jack Tripper on Three’s Company and Paul Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules, while his movie credits included Problem Child, Bad Santa and the Oscar-winning Sling Blade. Jason has built a television-heavy career of his own. After roles in shows including Parenthood, he currently plays Julian Markston opposite Kathy Bates and Skye P. Marshall on CBS’ Matlock.
He Imagines His Daughter Searching for Him One Day
Jason said he occasionally comes across an old interview with his father that he has never watched before. Those discoveries can give him something that was impossible to get after John’s death, a new answer from his dad.
Jason described each unfamiliar clip as “a little Easter egg” because it lets him learn something about John or hear him address a question Jason never thought to ask while he was alive.
He told People that whenever he records an interview or podcast, he sometimes imagines his daughter years in the future searching for him and discovering what he thought or said at a particular moment. “It’s mainly just for her,” he said.
Jason and Lynskey welcomed their daughter in December 2018. The couple has largely protected her privacy, including keeping her name and face out of the public spotlight even while occasionally discussing parenthood.
Jason Says His Father’s Mannerisms Still Appear in His Acting
During an April appearance on Ted Danson’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Danson asked whether Jason ever felt as though his father unexpectedly appeared through him while he was acting.
Jason said it had happened during auditions, particularly after he had prepared a scene one way and a casting director suddenly asked him to try something completely different.
Those moments forced him to abandon the version he had rehearsed and react instinctively. Some of the resulting takes became his strongest auditions, leaving him with the strange feeling, “That didn’t feel like I did that.”
He has also started noticing physical echoes of John that other people had pointed out to him for years. While watching himself on Matlock, Jason said he sometimes catches an expression he immediately recognizes as his father’s. Sometimes, Jason said, he watches himself and realizes, “That was just so his face.”