EXCLUSIVE: Joyce DeWitt Reveals Special Bond With John Ritter on TV Set
Joyce DeWitt has revealed her special bond with John Ritter and their close connection on a TV set.
Oct. 14 2026, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Three's Company costars Joyce DeWitt and John Ritter enjoyed a "joyous" connection as comedy soulmates – and there was no need for words, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
DeWitt, now 77, recalled the unique physical chemistry she shared with the beloved comic actor from the very first day they met on the set of the classic sitcom, which required lightning-fast timing to get the slapstick scenes right.
DeWitt Recalls Instant Chemistry With Ritter
Joyce DeWitt recalled an instant connection with John Ritter while performing physical comedy on 'Three's Company.'
"For John and I, the day that we met, our bodies were talking to each other," she said. "It's like we knew instantly, like if he swung high, I ducked low. If I ran low, he would swing high."
Ritter died suddenly in 2003 at the age of 54 from an aortic dissection.
DeWitt, who played Janet Wood opposite Ritter's accident-prone Jack Tripper, said the two communicated "kinesthetically."
"We didn't even have to talk," she said. "My body knew what his body was going to do and his knew what mine was going to do."
That instinctive connection was crucial to the show's famously frenetic physical comedy.
DeWitt Recalls Show’s Physical Comedy
DeWitt said rehearsing slapstick scenes with Ritter involved carefully choreographing their moves.
DeWitt said they would carefully rehearse their moves like choreography before throwing themselves into a scene at full force and "hope you bounce correctly backwards and that you survive it. And the fun of that is extraordinary. And the audience, I think, can see and feel the realness of it and get caught up in the play of it, which is so joyful."
The result was a comedy gold mine that is still making people laugh nearly 50 years after the show debuted in 1977. It ran until 1984.
"The truth we were willing to do any stupid thing we could think of that we thought would make people laugh," added DeWitt.
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Jason Ritter said he still turns to his late father, John, for advice
Although John has been gone nearly 25 years, his family and friends insist his presence remains powerful – with his son, Matlock star Jason Ritter, 46, saying he still turns to his father when he needs advice.
"I go, 'I need you in this corner right here, Dad,'" said Jason, explaining that he knows his father so well he can often imagine exactly what John would tell him.
