:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/threes-audra-tout-d759b58cd2e54204ab49d10f9e2d00f2.jpg "What happened to the Three's Company cast? See what became of the stars more than 40 years after ...")
John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and Joyce DeWitt made magic as a trio of oddball roommates. What happened to the Three's Company cast? See what became of the stars more than 40 years after it wrapped John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and Joyce DeWitt made magic as a trio of oddball roommates. By Skyler Trepel April 19, 2026 8:00 a.m. ET :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/threesaudratoutd759b58cd2e54204ab49d10f9e2d00f2.jpg) Two women, their secretly straight male roommate, and their landlords — a.k.a. '70s sitcom gold.
John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and Joyce DeWitt made magic as a trio of oddball roommates.
What happened to the *Three's Company *cast? See what became of the stars more than 40 years after it wrapped
John Ritter, Suzanne Somers, and Joyce DeWitt made magic as a trio of oddball roommates.
By Skyler Trepel
April 19, 2026 8:00 a.m. ET
Two women, their secretly straight male roommate, and their landlords — a.k.a. '70s sitcom gold. Credit:
Come and knock on our door — to find out what happened to the cast of *Three’s Company*.
The setup is classic sitcom madcap logic: Jack Tripper (John Ritter) wakes up in the apartment of two women the night after a party. It just so happens that they need a new roommate, and he knows how to cook. The only problem is… well, a single man living with two single women? In the ’70s? Solution: Jack has to convince the landlords that this isn’t a throuple situation — by pretending he’s gay.
The premise was very of its time, but *Three’s Company *(which was based on a British sitcom) carried itself with a great deal of charm, humor, and smarts. The chemistry between Ritter, Joyce DeWitt, and Suzanne Somers made it work — and Ritter became known as one of the best physical comedians in the business.
The show also helped normalize the idea of men and women living together platonically. The trio integrate their social lives and financial challenges while working through the miscommunications, temptations, and complications of their unique situation. It was a consistent hit for most of its eight-season run.
With 40 years and counting since the finale aired, now’s as good a time as any to look back at the cast of *Three’s Company*.
John Ritter (Jack Tripper)
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John Ritter as Jack Tripper; Ritter in Beverly Hills in 2003.
John Ritter played the kind-hearted protagonist Jack.
Ritter received an Emmy and Golden Globe for his performance, and practically became a full-time leading man on television. Not only did he continue on as Jack for the sequel series *Three’s a Crowd, *but he also headlined the cop dramedy *Hooperman.* Ritter followed it up with *Harts Afire*, starring opposite Markie Post.
Outside his sitcom wheelhouse, he played the adult version of Ben Hanscom in the original miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s *IT *(1990), and toplined the *Problem Child *franchise. Later in his career, he had memorable big-screen supporting roles in *Sling Blade *(1996) and *Bad Santa *(2003).
His final starring role was as on ABC's *8 Simple Rules*. In the midst of rehearsals for a season 2 episode in 2003, he suffered an aortic dissection and died hours later. He was 54 years old.
The comic actor was survived by his wife, actress Amy Yasbeck, and four children, including three from his previous marriage.
Ritter’s legacy lives on, as evidenced by his widow’s description of the cast at a 2025 live table read of a *Three’s Company *episode to benefit the John Ritter Foundation.
“Most of them knew John personally and the ones that didn’t completely, I knew them or they completely embodied the spirit of John’s personality and the personality of that show,” she told PEOPLE in 2025. “You could tell they all had watched it since they were little kids just by the way they brought themselves to it.”
Suzanne Somers (Chrissy Snow)
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Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow; Somers at Clive Davis' 90th birthday in 2022.
On paper, Chrissy was a stereotypical ditzy blonde, but Suzanne Somers played her with charm and honesty, giving the character an extra dimension.
Somers was one of the most popular actresses on television, but had a falling-out with producers when she asked for a pay raise closer to Ritter’s salary. As such, she got fired at the end of season 4 — at the height of her sitcom fame.
As she’s expressed in later years, however, it may have been a blessing in disguise, what with the fitness and skincare empire she went on to build.
“I probably would have never left network series... I would have kept on going and probably been in every sitcom after that were it not to end that way it ended. But I was ostracized so I went away,” she told PEOPLE in 2020. “That was the great thing about being fired… I would have never been able to do what I do now.”
She still maintained an acting career, landing another starring sitcom role on the modern *Brady Bunch *copycat *Step by Step*. During this time, the California native grew her platform, becoming a television host and author of 14 bestselling books. She was also the spokesperson for ThighMaster.
The actress even starred as herself in the TV movie *Keeping Secrets *(1991), based on her autobiography.
Somers died in 2023 after a recurrence of breast cancer. She was survived by her husband, TV host Alan Hamel, and a son from her first marriage.
Here's why we'll remember John Ritter
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Kaley Cuoco remembers how late costar John Ritter 'instantly became my TV dad' at '8 Simple Rules' table read
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Joyce DeWitt (Janet Wood)
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Joyce DeWitt as Janet Wood; DeWitt at an event for the John Ritter Foundation in 2024.
Joyce DeWitt played the smart, sensible, down-to-earth member of the trio, Janet.
She and Somers had a falling out when the latter left *Three’s Company*, but finally reunited decades later on Somers' talk show *Suzanne Somers Breaking Through*.
“Whenever something about *Three’s Company* comes up,” DeWitt said, “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.”
Once *Three’s Company *ended, Dewitt largely stayed out of the Hollywood spotlight. She made a handful of guest appearances on TV, including in episodes of *Cybill* and *Living Single*, while also maintaining a stage career.
More recently, she appeared in small movies like *The Savant *(2019) and *Ask Me to Dance *(2022).
Norman Fell (Stanley Roper)
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Norman Fell as Stanley Roper; Fell at the "For the Boys" premiere in 1991.
Norman Fell portrayed crotchety landlord Mr. Roper, who only let Jack stay in the apartment because he thought he was gay.
“The guy was an absolute nut,” he told *Entertainment Tonight* about his character. “He was really [the] low man on the totem pole and that was great for him because they wrote very well.”
Fell won a Golden Globe for his performance and even led a spinoff, *The Ropers*. After departing *Three’s Company*, he landed another sitcom lead on *Teachers Only*, alongside Lynn Redgrave and Jean Smart, before moving on to a career as a supporting player and guest star. He appeared in everything from *Magnum P.I. *and *Matlock *to *The Twilight Zone*.
At the tail end of his career, he parodied his most famous character on both *The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air *and *Ellen*.
Fell was married three times and had three children prior to his death in 1998 at 74 years old.
Audra Lindley (Helen Roper)
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Audra Lindley as Helen Roper; Lindley in a CBS promo in 1997.
As Helen Roper, Audra Lindley was the more open-minded, fun-loving, and snarky landlord. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
She and Fell became popular for their perpetual bickering and comedic insults, developing such good combative chemistry that they got their own spinoff, *The Ropers*.
Lindley was a successful soap opera star long before her time on *Three’s Company*, with major roles on *From These Roots*, *Search for Tomorrow*, and *Another World*. She went on to graduate to the big screen as Cybill Shepherd’s mother in the classic rom-com *The Heartbreak Kid *(1972).
After *Three’s Company*, Lindley had key supporting roles in *Desert Hearts *(1985) and *Troop Beverly Hills *(1989). You may also remember her memorable appearance as Phoebe’s grandmother on *Friends*.
Lindley had five children with Hardy Ulm, to whom she was married from 1943 until his 1970 death. The veteran actress died from leukemia complications in 1997 at age 79.
Richard Kline (Larry Dallas)
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Richard Kline as Larry Dallas; Kline at a John Ritter Foundation event in 2022.
Richard Kline played Jack’s charismatic playboy pal Larry, who occasionally gets Jack into a bit of trouble — especially when it comes to pursuing women.
Despite the character’s sleazy ways, the writers made sure to let the live audience know he still had a good heart.
“Once [the writers] get to know Larry, then they write for Larry,” Kline said in a 2025 interview.
“They write to those strengths and they wrote to the strength that I was supposedly a player and always borrowing money… Every taping night they would introduce, ‘And here he is: the used car salesman with a heart of gold Richard Kline,’ so there's nothing really sinister about my character. He was just needy.”
Kline became the only cast member aside from Ritter to appear on both of *Three’s Company *spinoffs, *The Ropers *and *Three’s a Crowd*. He went on to become a reliable guest player on the small screen, booking episodes of *Murder, She Wrote*, *Hill Street Blues*, *St. Elsewhere*, *Punky Brewster*, and *Family Matters*, among others.
He was a regular on the short-lived sitcoms *Noah Knows Best* and *Inside Schwartz* before landing recurring parts on *The Americans *and *Blue Bloods*.
Kline has been married to Beverly Osgoode since 2002. He has a daughter from a prior marriage.
Don Knotts (Ralph Furley)
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Don Knotts as Mr. Furley; Knotts at the TV Land Awards in 2004.
After the Ropers sold their apartment building, Don Knotts arrived as the new landlord, Mr. Furley. The character was very much a successor to Stanley Roper — a hard-nosed, strict landlord.
“Norman Fell was playing the landlord and they were going to put him and [Audra Lindley]… in a series of their own and they needed a new landlord so they thought of me,” Knotts recalled in an interview. “So when I came in I was... sort of the overly officious landlord strictly following rules, laying down rules.”
Knotts came to *Three’s Company* as an accomplished actor, but was best known as Barney Fife on *The Andy Griffith Show*, for which he won five Emmys.
He also had a run as a movie star, headlining a string of family comedies like *The Incredible Mr. Limpet *(1964), *The Apple Dumpling Gang *(1975), and *The Ghost and Mr. Chicken *(1966).
He reprised Deputy Fife in the made-for-TV movie *Return to Mayberry* (1986), and re-teamed with Griffith on *Matlock *as annoying neighbor Les Calhoun.
Not long before his 2006 death at the age of 81, Knotts parodied his Mr. Furley performance on a 2005 episode of *That ’70s Show*. He was survived by his wife, Frances Yarborough. He had two children from a previous marriage.
Priscilla Barnes (Terri Alden)
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Priscilla Barnes as Terri Alden; Barnes at a John Ritter Foundation event in 2024.
After Somers was written off, Priscilla Barnes joined the series as the intelligent, hardworking nurse Terri, who defied the show’s prior “dumb blonde” stereotypes.
Barnes told PEOPLE in 2023* *that it was Ritter that made her time on *Three’s Company *a career highlight.
“John was a goofball… it was good that way, because when you do other shows, you get all different kinds of personalities, And the show was run by #1 on the call sheet,” she said. “So if he had had a different personality it would have been a different experience.”
The New Jersey native continued to find regular work once the sitcom came to an end. She played Felix Leiter’s wife in the James Bond film *Licence to Kill *(1989), and had supporting roles in Kevin Smith's *Mallrats *(1995), Sean Penn’s *The Crossing Guard *(1995), and Rob Zombie’s *The Devil's Rejects *(2005).
More recently, she secured one of her biggest roles as the villainous Magda on *Jane the Virgin*.
Barnes has been married to actor Ted Monte since 2003.
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Source: "EW Comedy"
Source: Comedy
Published: April 20, 2026 at 06:57AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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