John Ritter

Born: September 17 1948
Where: Burbank, California, USA
Died: September 11 2003 (heart attack)

The accomplished actor was best known for his American TV appearances in Hooperman and Three's Company - but he also made forays into film.

Highlighs included Billy Bob Thornton's Tadpole, Peter Bogdanovich's They All Laughed, Blake Edwards' Skin Deep and the thriller Panic.

The youngest son of film star and C&W legend Tex Ritter, he was student body president at Hollywood High School and went onto study psychology at the University of South California.

(Before attending college, his first appearance on TV was as a contestant on The Dating Game when he won a holiday to Acapulco, Mexico).

He was invited to join acting class by Nina Foch and switches studies to graduate in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama.

At the same time made his debut in the TV show Hawaii Five-O playing various roles but it was Three's Company (based on Britain's Man About the House) which put him on the map.

Beating off 50 others including Billy Crystal for the role, Ritter received an Emmy, Golden Globe and People's Choice Award for the role of Jack Tripper.

Before taking the role, he also made his big screen debut in the movie Nickelodeon and followed that up alongside Jenny Sullivan in Breakfast in Bed.

In 1986 he made his first animated film - Flight of the Dragons - and the following year was back on TV in the hit series Hooperman for which he was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

At the same time he continued doing more box-office films Skin Deep and Problem Child and its sequel Problem Child 2.

In Billy Bob Thornton's 1996 drama Sling Blade Ritter played the gay manager of a department store and Thornton was reformed killer Karl Childers.

He provided the voice of Clifford in the PBS animated series Clifford the Big Red Dog and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award, 3 times in a row, making it seven Emmy nominations in his 35-year career.

In 1999, he was also nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, playing the role of George Madison on an episode of Ally McBeal.

Soon afterwards, he landed his last television role in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.

In 2002, he starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in the black comedy Tadpole and also appeared in the independent feature Manhood.

The following year he was taken ill on set with a heart flaw and died on September - just a few days off his 55th birthday.

His last big screen appearance - as department store manager Bob Chipeska - led to the movie Bad Santa being dedicated to his memory.