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Richard O’Sullivan, the British actor whose Man About the House character, Robin Tripp, provided the inspiration for John Ritter’s signature Three’s Company role, has died. He was 82.
O’Sullivan died Friday surrounded by close family at Brinsworth House, a care home in west London, according to BBC News. He had lived there for 23 years after suffering a stroke in 2003. A cause of death wasn’t given.
“My dad was as funny and charming in real life as he appeared on our TV screens over the years,” said his son, James, in a statement. “Although much of his career happened before I was born, I was fortunate enough to be able to enjoy and witness his incredible talents on the countless reruns of his shows that made him the respected and loved actor that he was.”
O’Sullivan’s biggest role came in 1973 with Man About the House, written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The Briton played student chef Robin Tripp in the show, considered pretty daring for its time as it depicted a man living in a London flat with two single women, Chrissy (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thomsett). The landlords, George (Brian Murphy) and his sexually frustrated wife, Mildred (Yootha Joyce), are told that Robin is gay.
The series would go on to inspire the beloved ABC comedy Three’s Company, developed by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross and Bernie West, that aired for eight seasons from 1977-84. Ritter played Jack Tripper, who platonically lives with two women in Santa Monica.
The spinoff of Man About the House, a series called Robin’s Nest in which O’Sullivan reprised his role as Tripp, would also serve as the basis for Three’s Company sequel Three’s a Crowd, which ran on ABC in 1984. Robin’s Nest followed O’Sullivan’s character and Vicky Nicholls, played by Tessa Wyatt (O’Sullivan’s real-life partner from 1978-85), an unmarried couple who share a flat over an abandoned Chinese takeaway owned by Vicky’s father, James.
O’Sullivan was born in 1944 in Middlesex, England, and found his knack for acting early. He played a child singing in the Sunday School sequence of 1953’s The Yellow Balloon before landing the lead role in The Stranger’s Hand with Alida Valli and Trevor Howard.
One of his earliest television roles came on an episode of Sherlock Holmes titled “The Unlucky Gambler,” which aired when he was just 11.
He played a small role in Carry On Teacher (1959) and starred as the younger brother of Audrey Hepburn’s Gabrielle in The Nun’s Story that same year. In the early ’60s, he appeared in two Cliff Richard films, The Young Ones (1961) and Wonderful Life (1964).
For most of the 1960s, O’Sullivan focused on television with credits including Emergency Ward 10, Redcap, Danger Man and No Hiding Place. Among some of his best-known appearances aside from Man About the House and Robin’s Nest are playing the titular character in 1979’s Dick Turpin series as well as 1971’s Doctor at Large and 1972’s Doctor in Charge.
In the ’80s, he starred in Me and My Girl and in 1991 led ITV’s Trouble in Mind.
O’Sullivan also had a relationship with his Man About the House co-star Thomsett and later, with Wyatt, with whom he had his son.
English (US) ·