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we've lost many stars who appeared on
three's company but these actors have
left behind impressive resumes from
roles in the producers and star trek to
a gig as katherine hepburn's masseuse
this is what these three's company stars
did before they passed away
john ritter who played jack tripper on
three's company died of an aortic
dissection at age 54 in burbank
california he became ill while on the
set of his abc sitcom eight simple rules
for dating my teenage daughter as the
chicago tribune reported he was
eventually taken to providence st joseph
medical center for surgery and died
around 10 pm on september 11 2003 his
threes company co-star joyce dewitt
spoke about the loss of ritter saying
i'm shocked and heartbroken and so sad
for his family i cannot find words to
express my sorrow such a great loss to
the joy in the world
ritter's widow amy yazbeck along with
their children filed a wrongful death
suit against providence st joseph
medical center in 2004. they claimed the
staff incorrectly said that ritter was
having a heart attack and rejected his
pleas for a second opinion
and the doctor said
very dismissively there's no time for a
second pin you're in the middle of
having a heart attack but in 2008 people
reported that a california jury
determined his doctors weren't negligent
in the late actor's death it was also
revealed that ritter didn't follow up
with a specialist after one of them
advised him to do so after having a body
scan
on february 24 2006 the television world
lost a comedic genius in don knotts the
veteran actor died on that day at the
age of 81 at los angeles ucla medical
center due to lung cancer knotts a
native of west virginia played landlord
and wannabe playboy ralph furley on
three's company he replaced the original
landlords norman fell and audra lindley
after they left for their spin-off
series the ropers as many probably know
knotts was most well known for playing
the lovable barney fife on the andy
griffith show with the titular star
telling the washington post
don meant everything don made the show
his three's company co-star joyce dewitt
spoke about knots on larry king live
after his death saying we were
absolutely astounded that this amazing
creative extraordinary talent had agreed
to come and join our cast and of all the
people that you would ever meet in
hollywood don was absolutely the most
unassuming graceful gracious man you
could ever know during the time between
the andy griffith show and three's
company knotts left tv to work on the
big screen starring in films such as the
incredible mr limpet in 1964. the
hilariously titled the reluctant
astronaut in 1967 and the apple dumpling
gang and its sequel in the 1970s
ann wedgeworth played lana shields the
older neighbor whose daily mission was
to create some hanky-panky with john
ritter's character jack tripper
according to the hollywood reporter she
died in 2017 in her new york city area
home at 83 after suffering from a
lengthy illness wedgworth appeared on
the show in season 4 but was gone after
just nine episodes she had also
discussed being abruptly let go and
shared how difficult it was saying to
people in 1980 it was horrifying i had
no warning or explanation suddenly
everyone was very cold to me i went to
tell john goodbye and he was shocked no
one had told him before ever lusting
after ritter's character wedgeworth
acted on broadway appearing in the show
make a million in 1958 she also nabbed a
tony award for best performance by a
featured actress for playing faye
medwick in the 1977 neil simon play
chapter 2. one of her film credits is
1973's scarecrow which also starred jean
hackman and al pacino and on the small
screen she played marlene eldridge on
evening shade
william pearson played the demanding
dean travers at jack tripper's cooking
school from
here it 1977-1981 help you whenever you
look for work thank you sir and if you
screw up tripa
according to the san diego union
tribune's legacy he died in newton new
jersey of respiratory problems in 2004
at the age of 78. pearson appeared in
memorable episodes of the show including
one where his on-screen niece takes
tripper's cooking class and offers to
exchange some romantic time for an a
grade besides three's company pearson is
also known for playing marco the mailman
in the 1953 film stalag 17 and in the
previous broadway production by the same
name he was in another classic 80 sitcom
different strokes and in billy joel's
video for we didn't start the fire in
fact he had been acting on either stage
film or television since 1947.
paul ainslie was a pretty important
character on three's company jim the
bartender it's not that he said a whole
lot but he was the person who kept the
drinks flowing at the bar while the main
characters voiced out their problems
according to playbill ainsley died on
january 19th 2013 at the age of 67.
besides the 80 sitcom he also played
king herod in the first broadway
production of jesus christ superstar in
1971 and he appeared in the 1981
production of the pirates of penzance as
well
other acting credits include guest spots
on wings babylon 5 and the bold and the
beautiful ainsley spoke about his time
on three's company six years before his
death saying in a 2007 interview for
just my show that was my first gig and
that was at basic minimum nothing
because i had no lines no nothing for
some reason the casting person and some
other powers that be decided that i
should come back when i was available
brad blaisdell played mike the bartender
for three seasons on three's company
after paul ainslie's character left then
after the show blaisdell appeared on
other series including knott's landing
matlock and er according to the los
angeles times legacy he died of cancer
on december 26 2018 at 69 and was
survived by his wife and daughter
blaisdell was also a singer and appeared
in the broadway shows i love my wife and
growing up he once talked about how kind
people were to him on three's company
saying on just my show in 2007 it was my
first job in los angeles in front of a
camera they couldn't have been nicer to
me actually i've never met another human
being as nice as john ritter
in three's company many episodes focused
on the relationship between landlord
stanley roper played by norman fell and
the main characters fell died of cancer
on december 14 1998 in woodland hills
california as reported by the washington
post he was on the abc sitcom from 1977
to 1979 before joining his tv wife audra
lindley in their own spin-off the ropers
he also won a golden globe in 1979 for
his work as stanley roper
but before the award and the three's
company fame val appeared in a bunch of
tv shows and movies including the
original charlie's angels and 1978's the
end it was stanley roper however that
fell is most remembered for this is
probably a good thing since he
considered the role one of his favorite
parts once telling the american forces
network stanley roper was a great
character to play it was like sticking
your head above a fence you can suddenly
breathe and really carry on it was a
whole new approach for me to do bizarre
things
similar to norman fell audra lindley
appeared in a long list of tv shows and
films but is mostly known for her work
on three's company she played helen
roper who was thirsty for some physical
attention from her husband
honestly if i want anything done around
here i have to do it myself
and that includes just about everything
lindley died of leukemia on october 16
1997 in los angeles california at 79
years old the los angeles times reported
that she worked up until one month
before her passing filming an episode of
the sitcom sybil lindley appeared on
three's company from 1977 to 1979 before
joining fell in their spin-off the
ropers but the role nearly cost her a
part in the 1982 film cannery row in an
interview with bobby wygant she said
director david ward saw some tape of
helen roper and said she's not right at
all but lindley got the part of fauna
flood anyway which is just one of the
many film roles she's had during her
nearly 60-year career
peter mark richmond played a reverend on
three's company who happened to be
chrissy snow's dad richmond died of
natural causes on january 14 2021 in
woodland hills california at 93 years
old the hollywood reporter shared a
statement from the actor's tv daughter
suzanne summers who said comedy is
musical peter mark richman and i
understood the music from the very first
time we appeared together on three's
company he knew his stuff we lost a good
one richmond also played a lawyer named
andrew laird on dynasty from 1981 to
1984 and made guest appearances on the
love boat fantasy island charlie's
angels and star trek to name a few he
once talked about snagging the reverend
snow roll on three's company and
revealed that it ended because summers
was fired telling fox news in 2018 she
wanted 150 000 per show that finished me
off and that finished her off but i
wasn't too surprised she was fired but
she seemed surprised when mickey deems
died at 88 years old three's company
fans took to twitter to mourn him deems
played numerous characters on the series
and even showed up on the spin-off the
ropers one of his first television
appearances came in 1959 on the phil
silver's show which led to a long career
that stretched into the 80s deems also
acted on stage appearing in the 1959
broadway show golden fleece scene 1960s
vintage 60 and the off-broadway
production of anything goes in 1962 in
1969 perhaps foreshadowing his role on
the sitcom deems was in a tv movie
titled three's a crowd the actor
reportedly communicated with the tv
party blog before his 2014 death sharing
that he started in entertainment as a
musician and transitioned to comedy
after world war ii he was also known for
creating and starring in the sitcom mack
and meier for hire rod colbin was
featured on an episode of three's
company as cindy snow's boss mr hadley
his character was caught cheating on his
wife resulting in this memorable line
from the
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hadley was show badly
colbin who also played janet wood's boss
in a different episode and helen roper's
brother-in-law in the ropers died in
denver colorado in 2007. according to
variety he was 83 years old before
landing on three's company colbin had
numerous roles in tv shows one of his
first acting credits was 1951's somerset
mom tv theater he also appeared in an
episode of the twilight zone in 1986
some of his film credits include
frankenstein's aunt tilly john huss and
yes giorgio but perhaps colbin was best
known in hollywood as an expert fencer
since he taught james dean and marlon
brando how to handle a sword for films
plus as reported by variety colbin had a
job as catherine hepburn's masseuse
even though he appeared in just one
episode of three's company as jack
tripper's father it's safe to say that
dick shawn made an impression on fans
that will probably never disappear
in that episode he pays a surprise visit
to jack only for his son to tell him to
butt out of his life after meddling but
jack and his dear old dad were able to
patch things up by the episode's end
sean died of a heart attack in 1987 at
63 years old while performing onstage at
the university of california san diego
the associated press said the audience
thought it was part of the show until
his son adam requested assistance and a
doctor helped the late actor's career
began in the 1950s and he has at least
66 acting credits to his name some
include playing adolf hitler in mel
brooks's the producers and sylvester
marcus in it's a mad mad mad world in
1963. on tv he's been in everything from
the lucy show to captain kangaroo to
laverne and shirley to magnum pi check
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