The Curse of the Apartment? The Tragic and Triumphant Lives of the ‘Three’s Company’ Cast pd01

John Ritter as Jack Tripper

On Three’s Company, Ritter played Jack, the third roommate in Janet and Chrissy’s two-bedroom apartment. He had already been working steadily in Hollywood for a decade before the show, including a recurring role on The Waltons, but it was Three’s Company that made him a star.

After the show went off the air, Ritter starred in one of the show’s spinoffs, Three’s a Crowd, which lasted for one season, between 1984 and 1985. He also starred in other long-running shows, like Hooperman from 1987 to 1989, Hearts Afire with Markie Post and Billy Bob Thornton between 1992 and 1995, Clifford the Big Red Dog from 2000 to 2003 and 8 Simple Rules with Kaley Cuoco, from 2002 until his untimely death in 2003.

Ritter also starred in films like Problem Child and Problem Child 2, Sling Blade, Bad Santa and Bride of Chucky; and the original TV adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.

While filming 8 Simple Rules on Sept. 11, 2003, Ritter fell ill on set and was rushed to the hospital, where he was incorrectly diagnosed with a heart attack, which was actually a tear in his aorta. He died that night. After his death, Ritter’s widow, Amy Yasbeck, founded The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, which hosts a gala fundraiser every year.

Ritter was married twice: to Nancy Morgan from 1977 to 1996, and to Yasbeck from 1999 until his death. With Morgan, he had three kids: actor Jason Ritter, born in 1980; musician Carly Ritter, born in 1982; and actor Tyler Ritter, born in 1985. With Yasbeck, he had son Noah Ritter, born in 1998.

Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow

Somers played Chrissy, the bubbly secretary roommate.

She had small roles in films like American Graffiti before Three’s Company, but the show was her breakout role. However, she only appeared in the first four seasons. After a contract dispute — she demanded equal pay — Somers was fired and replaced with Jenilee Harrison, playing Chrissy’s cousin, Cindy.

“The show’s response was, ‘Who do you think you are?’ ” Somers told PEOPLE in 2020. “They said, ‘John Ritter is the star.’ ”

After being fired, Somers said, her offers dried up. “I probably would have never left network series,” she added. “I would have kept on going and probably been in every sitcom after that were it not to end the way it ended. But I was ostracized. So I went away.”

In that absence from television, she worked in Las Vegas, but then became the face of ThighMaster, an iconically 1990s piece of exercise equipment; she and husband Alan Hamel invested in the company and eventually sold 10 million units, per Today.com. She went on to launch a skincare brand and became an author several times over.

Somers had a show, She’s the Sheriff, from 1987 to 1989, and made her TV comeback as the mother of a Brady Bunch-style blended family on Step by Step, which aired for 160 episodes across eight seasons from 1991 to 1998. It was Somers’ last starring role, as she continued to grow her personal businesses.

She was married twice: to Bruce Somers, Sr., with whom she had son Bruce Somers, Jr., born in 1965; and to Hamel, whom she married in 1977. Somers died of complications from breast cancer on Oct. 15, 2023.

Joyce DeWitt as Janet Wood

DeWitt’s breakout role was as Janet, the sassy florist who lives in the apartment; she stayed with the show for all eight seasons.

“Whenever something about Three’s Company comes up, I have relentlessly said that it is my opinion that the only reason Three’s Company is worth remembering is that it created an opportunity for all of us to laugh together, to celebrate joy,” she said on Suzanne Somers: Breaking Through in 2012.

After the show, she has focused mainly on stage work, appearing across the country in theatrical productions. “I’ll open up slowly and selectively,” she told PEOPLE in 1978. “I don’t have to be the main event, I’m just looking for a good part.”

Don Knotts as Mr. Furley

Comedic actor Don Knotts was already famous for his Emmy Award-winning role as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show when he joined the cast of Three’s Company in its fourth season, replacing Mr. Roper as the trio’s nosy landlord. He appeared on the show for 115 episodes.

“He made me laugh so much,” Ritter’s son Jason told PEOPLE in 2025 of watching Knotts on Three’s Company. “And his facial expressions and just his whole vibe was so funny to me on that show. And so it was a thrill for me to see him, to meet him.”

Three’s Company was Knott’s last major role on television, but he did appear in 18 episodes of former costar and good friend Andy Griffith’s Matlock from 1988 to 1992, and in movies like Cannonball Run II and Pleasantville.

Knotts died of complications from lung cancer on Feb. 24, 2006.

Priscilla Barnes as Terri Alden

The day Cindy moved out of the apartment, Jack found a new roommate: Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes), a nurse who treated him for a cut in the ER. Barnes joined the show in season 6 and stayed through the end.

At a 2023 benefit for Ritter’s foundation, Barnes told PEOPLE about what the late actor was like on the set of their show. “It was good that way, because when you do other shows, you get all different kinds of personalities, and a show was run by number one on the call sheet,” she said. “So if he had had a different personality, it would’ve been a different experience.”

In 1999, Barnes appeared with Jason in Mumford. “Jason and I had done a film together, a movie called Mumford, but he was 19 years old and I hadn’t seen him since he was 5 and screaming in the dressing room before our show,” she added. “That was a pleasure.”

Barnes was also in films like Mallrats and The Devil’s Rejects, and from 2014 to 2019, she had a recurring role on Jane the Virgin.

Norman Fell as Mr. Roper

Norman Fell won a Golden Globe for his role as the curmudgeonly landlord Mr. Roper on the first four seasons of the show, until he and TV wife, Audra Lindley, got their own spinoff, The Ropers. The show lasted one season from 1979 to 1980.

Fell became so well-known for his Three’s Company role that he struggled to land another series. “I walk down the street,” he said in an interview years later, “and I’m still [called] Mr. Roper.”

Fell had roles in films like Transylvania 6-5000 and For the Boys. He died on Dec. 14, 1998.

Audra Lindley as Mrs. Roper

Lindley played Mrs. Roper, the comedic foil to her grumpy husband. Like her on-screen husband, Fell, Lindley left Three’s Company for The Ropers.

She became a cultural icon, especially for her character’s fashion sense: her iconic caftans still have a place in the zeitgeist.

On Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2020, when Ripa was broadcasting from home during quarantine, she wore a caftan on the show. “All of my kids, all of my nieces and nephews, my really good friends, all call me Ms. Roper because I wear caftans all the time,” she said.

Lindley appeared in films like The Relic and Troop Beverly Hills. She died in October 1997 after being diagnosed with leukemia.