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American Morning
John Ritter Dies
Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to start this morning with the death of John Ritter. The actor was on the set of his ABC sitcom, "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter," when he collapsed apparently because of a heart disorder.
Miguel Marquez has more now live outside of the hospital there in Burbank, California, where Ritter died last evening.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, he was brought here to Providence St. Joseph Hospital after suffering apparently a heart attack. In a statement, his publicist said that the cause of death was a dissection of an aorta, which results from an unrecognized flaw in the aorta. The condition is undetectable. Essentially, Mr. Ritter suffered from a very sudden and very massive heart attack.
Ritter would have turned 55 next week. His show, "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter," would have started its second season on the 23rd of this month. And he has a film in the can. He has a film that will be released in November of this year. So, in some ways he is still very much with us.
Back to you.
HEMMER: Miguel Marquez, thanks, live there in southern California.
More now with Soledad on this.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, from television to film to the stage, John Ritter was a gifted actor, who could be loveable and humorous in one role and then serious and poignant in another. But despite his obvious talents, Ritter did not set out to be an actor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): John Ritter was born into show biz, the son of actor and country music legend Tex Ritter. But as a young man, he had no plans to follow in his famous father's footsteps.
He started off in college majoring in psychology, and it took two years before friends could persuade him to join a drama class.
After six years of stage work and small parts on television, he got his big break, landing the role of Jack Tripper in the 1977 series, "Three's Company." JOHN RITTER, ACTOR: Oh!
Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to start this morning with the death of John Ritter. The actor was on the set of his ABC sitcom, "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter," when he collapsed apparently because of a heart disorder.
Miguel Marquez has more now live outside of the hospital there in Burbank, California, where Ritter died last evening.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Yes, he was brought here to Providence St. Joseph Hospital after suffering apparently a heart attack. In a statement, his publicist said that the cause of death was a dissection of an aorta, which results from an unrecognized flaw in the aorta. The condition is undetectable. Essentially, Mr. Ritter suffered from a very sudden and very massive heart attack.
Ritter would have turned 55 next week. His show, "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter," would have started its second season on the 23rd of this month. And he has a film in the can. He has a film that will be released in November of this year. So, in some ways he is still very much with us.
Back to you.
HEMMER: Miguel Marquez, thanks, live there in southern California.
More now with Soledad on this.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, from television to film to the stage, John Ritter was a gifted actor, who could be loveable and humorous in one role and then serious and poignant in another. But despite his obvious talents, Ritter did not set out to be an actor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN (voice-over): John Ritter was born into show biz, the son of actor and country music legend Tex Ritter. But as a young man, he had no plans to follow in his famous father's footsteps.
He started off in college majoring in psychology, and it took two years before friends could persuade him to join a drama class.
After six years of stage work and small parts on television, he got his big break, landing the role of Jack Tripper in the 1977 series, "Three's Company." JOHN RITTER, ACTOR: Oh!
