NEED TO KNOW
- Three’s Company star Joyce DeWitt said that John Ritter’s eldest son, Jason Ritter, made a cameo during the sitcom’s opening credits when he was just a baby
- DeWitt said the show’s director just pulled the tiny tot off the set to make a brief cameo during a scene she shared with him
- According to DeWitt, it marked the future TV star’s film premiere
Jason Ritter made a memorable TV debut that only a few people know about.
The 45-year-old actor is the son of the late John Ritter and Nancy Morgan, and in the early ‘80s, the then-toddler had a blink-and-you’d-miss-it moment on his famous dad’s hit show, Three’s Company.
Recently, John’s costar Joyce DeWitt shared the little-known fact about one of the iconic comedy’s opening credits, sharing that baby Jason was pulled into a shot with her at the last minute.
“Our director, Dave Powers, was just shooting from the cuff when we would go on location to shoot the credits,” DeWitt said during the Southfork Experience: Three’s Company Panel on Aug. 10.
ABC
“There was a rough draft, but not really a game plan. And because we were going to be all day on location, people brought their children, their wives, whatever, it was kind of a group event, and Davey was just grabbing anybody and everyone to throw into those credits,” she adds.
One such impromptu guest cameo came from little Jason, who showed up to set in a pair of blue overalls.
“In my credit, where I’m down and this little boy toddles in, that’s Jason Ritter, John’s first child,” DeWitt noted. “The Jason Ritter that you see on TV all the time, that was his film premiere. His little overall butt walking up to me.”
The opening sequence was filmed at the Los Angeles Zoo and used at the beginning of episodes during seasons 6 through 8.
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John starred as Jack Tripper in Three’s Company opposite DeWitt and the late Suzanne Somers for all eight seasons of the show. In addition to Jason, John was also dad to sons Tyler Ritter, 40, Noah Ritter, 26, and daughter Carly Ritter, 43.
John died in 2003 of a “dissection of the aorta,” a previously undetected flaw in the main artery from the heart, when Jason was 23.
Of course, Jason has gone on to have a noteworthy career in Hollywood, appearing on hit shows like Parenthood, A Million Little Things, Matlock and more.
Carlo Allegri/Getty
Last year, the actor went viral for doing a spot-on impression of his dad on the hit sitcom Three’s Company on social media.
The moment caused many fans to point out just how similar the two actors look.
“Absolutely, every once and a while, in the mirror or if I see myself on this today later, I’ll be like, ‘Oh wow.’ I’ll have a little moment of seeing him and it’s always nice,” Jason said during an October 2024 appearance on The Talk.
Jason told Larry King in 2018 that he grew up in a “funny household.”
“The certain drive that people like my dad have to make people laugh, it infiltrates every aspect of his life,” Jason said of John. “He loved making friends laugh. He made jokes throughout every dinner and every hangout time afterwards.”
