PEOPLE
What Happened to the Three's Company Cast? Inside Their Lives After the Iconic Sitcom Ended
By Julie Tremaine Published on November 9, 2025 08:30AM EST
It’s been 48 years since Three’s Company brought together three zany roommates — who weren’t supposed to be living together, according to the landlord’s rules — who charmed the world with their comedic antics.
Starring John Ritter as Jack Tripper, Joyce DeWitt as Janet Wood and Suzanne Somers as Chrissy Snow, the show aired for 172 episodes across eight seasons between 1977 and 1984. In the first episode, Janet and Chrissy are losing their roommate, and need a replacement: they find Jack in their bathtub, sleeping off the previous night’s going-away party, and decide, hey, this is the guy.
The only problem is that, according to landlord Mr. Roper’s rules, men and women can’t live together in his building. Mrs. Roper, though, is charmed by Jack and helps the trio convince her husband that Jack is gay and, therefore, “safe” to live with the ladies.
Talking to Conan O’Brien about the show’s lasting popularity in 1997, Ritter said, "It's like Chinese food, you watch it and a half an hour later you're ready for more comedy. People still seem to like it."
Here’s a look at what the Three’s Company cast has been up to since the show went off the air.
01
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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.
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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.
03
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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.”
04
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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.
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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.
06
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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.
07
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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.
Update: Below is another article on the very same subject. It includes Larry.
Entertainment Weekly
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
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.
01
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John Ritter (Jack Tripper)
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.”
02
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Suzanne Somers (Chrissy Snow)
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.
03
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Joyce DeWitt (Janet Wood)
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).
04
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Norman Fell (Stanley Roper)
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.
05
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Audra Lindley (Helen Roper)
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.
06
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Richard Kline (Larry Dallas)
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.
07
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Don Knotts (Ralph Furley)
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.
08
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Priscilla Barnes (Terri Alden)
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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