Key Points
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8 Simple Rules star Amy Davidson says John Ritter encouraged her when they first met on the sitcom.
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Davidson played one of Ritter’s daughters, Kerry, along with Kaley Cuoco’s Bridget.
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Ritter died in 2003 at 54, after he became ill on set.
The late John Ritter did something very kind for his TV daughter, Amy Davidson.
The 8 Simple Rulesactress, who has also appeared on shows such as High Potential and The Lincoln Lawyer, recalled in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly‘s sister publication, PEOPLE, how the Three’s Company alum won her over immediately at a table read.
“It was the first time we met John and Katey [Sagal, who played her mom] ’cause the kids were cast first,” Davidson said. “I was so nervous. And then John and I sat next to each other at the table, and in the pilot, I had an emotional scene, and I just give it my all because it’s a table read and whatever, I go there emotionally, and he grabbed my hand under the table, and he whispered in my ear, ‘You’re so f—ing talented.'”
Ritter’s support meant a lot to Davidson, who played Kerry, the middle daughter often in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Kaley Cuoco’s Bridget.
8 Simple Rules debuted in 2002, but Ritter fell ill on the set of the sitcom on Sept. 11, 2003. He was taken to a hospital, where he died of aortic dissection at the age of 54.
Ritter’s lead character on the ABC series died, too. Additional actors James Garner and David Spade came in to try and fill the void he had left, but the show ultimately ended in April 2005 after three seasons.
To this day, Ritter’s words still comfort Davidson. “When I doubt myself,” she said, “I have that whisper in my ear.”
Cuoco has said that Ritter encouraged her much the same way when she was still a teenager.
“He was constantly whispering into my ear — ‘The audience likes when you mess up. Mess up!'” Cuoco said in September at Evening from the Heart L.A., the annual gala that kicked off The John Ritter Foundation’s Aortic Dissection Awareness Week.
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“He would just stop a take and say, ‘Does anyone else have to pee?’ It’s like, ‘We’re rolling here!'” He was so funny.” she recalled. “I took all that with me in my life, and the jobs I had after him. But he always has been the North Star in my career, and someone that I adore.”
Ritter’s sudden death, said Cuoco, was “one of the worst days of my life.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
