Culture Week - Part 2: Missing John Ritter

Amy Yasbek is a single parent. She works to raise her daughter Stella by herself, just as thousands of other single parents do in the United States. She has been a single parent since September 2003 when she abruptly became a widow. Her husband suddenly and unexpectedly died after suffering from a thoracic aortic aneurysm while at work. He was 54 years of age at the time.

The thing that is striking about Amy is that she is the widow of comedic actor John Ritter. Amy Yasbek loved her husband the way we seldom see in the environment of Hollywood and television. In an interview published in USA Today she said, “I still feel completely connected to him, so in love with him. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the man who was compared to John Ritter through my eyes.”

Amy still wears her wedding band (It is visible in the photo of her taken in an article promoting her upcoming sitcom on Fox.) and states, “I feel more married to John than ever.”

John Ritter was the youngest son of Country and Western singer Tex Ritter. He had roles on many popular television series, including “The Waltons” and a guest shot on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (he played a clergyman on both) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his appearance on “Ally McBeal.” He also starred on the late-'80s series “Hooperman,” and the early-'90s show “Hearts Afire.” Proving his versatility, he also provided the voice of Clifford on the PBS animated series “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” a role for which he received two Emmy nominations. John and Amy’s daughter Stella still watches the cartoon so she can feel close to her Dad.

I have always been a fan of John Ritter. I think he was a comedic talent with few in television on par with him. He was able to play parts from a buffoon to a serious role with equal credibility. I remember in the 1970s, during my more legalistic days, listening to many criticize his sitcom "Three’s Company" because it had a man and two women sharing an apartment together. It has since proven to be a very tame TV show.

Whatever.

My point is that I admired John Ritter for his talent, his personality but most of all for his zest for life. Articles on him state that he was one of those individuals that just enjoyed living. He liked to do things, to get folks to do them with him, and to in general make life worth living. One reason I liked the man is that I like to see myself that same way. I want to live life to the fullest. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.” John Ritter was.

The point of this blog is not really to get you to rethink your opinion of John Ritter. It is much closer to home than that. Here are a few questions: How do you view life? Is it an adventure to be lived or a journey to be endured? Is it a challenge to rise up to or is it simply steps to walk?

Last evening I had the opportunity to see the movie Million Dollar Baby. As the movie nears it climax, Morgan Freeman’s character tells the character played by Clint Eastwood that what most people will regret when they die is that they did not “get their shot.”

Thinking of John Ritter, how do you live your life? Are you seeking “your shot?”

I want to work for “my shot.” I want it to be a life lived with excitement and challenge and intrigue and risk and expectancy and celebration. When I breathe my last, and my children stand over my body, I want them to say, “Dad enjoyed all of life that God gave him. He lived life the way God wants us to live it . . . with gusto!”