Meet John Ritter’s parents – who were both very famous actors

John’s talent for TV acting made him a star, but his mother was a silver screen icon long before Three’s Company made its debut. Dorothy Fay was born on 4 April 1915, and packed a lot into a relatively short career. She first starred on screen in 1938 with five western projects, including Frontier Scout. 

Her acting legacy sits within a three year period, totalling 18 projects between 1938 and 1941. Dorothy’s best known works include The Green Archer (1940), Trigger Pals (1939) and White Eagle (1941). She last appeared on screen in a 1941 episode of The Bigelow Theatre and sadly passed away on 5 November 2003 at the age of 88.

John’s father Tex also found fame in the ’30s. He made his acting debut in 1936’s The Old Corral and Headin’ for the Rio Grande. Like his wife Dorothy, Tex Ritter found fame as a sharpshooting western star, continuing to find success in the genre into the ’70s.

But his career went beyond acting: Tex was also a talented musician, receiving performance, writing and arrangement credits on several projects such as High Noon (1952). Tex’s musical work continues to inspire cinema today, with his performances featuring in Wes Anderson’s 2023 hit Asteroid City and 2021 feature Belfast. The actor and musician sadly passed from a heart attack in 1974 at the age of 68.

Dorothy and Tex were an all-star couple of the western movie genre, starring in four films together: Song of the Buckaroo (1938), Sundown on the Prairie (1939), Rollin’ Westward (1939) and Rainbow Over the Range (1940).

The pair tied the knot in 1941 and Fay stepped back from the screen, raising their sons Tom and John while Tex continued his cowboy career.

John and his first wife Nancy Morgan shared three children and each of them have continued their father’s family legacy of performance in one way or another. 

His oldest son Jason is an Emmy-nominated actor, daughter Carly is a country singer following in her grandfather Tex’s footsteps and Tyler has also found success on screen in shows like NCIS and Arrow. During his second marriage to Amy Yasbeck, John welcomed his youngest son Noah. 

John Ritter passed unexpectedly following a heart attack at the age of 54. Weeks after his death, his wife Amy established the The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health and now works together with all four of his children to raise awareness of thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection.

While filming for sitcom 8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter, John was taken to hospital and treated for what was presumed to be a heart attack. It was later identified as a type A aortic dissection.