Amy Yasbeck

Yasbeck was born in Blue Ash, Ohio, the daughter of Dorothy Louise Mary (née Murphy), a homemaker, and John Anthony Yasbeck (Arabic: جون أنتوني يَزبك),[1] a butcher and grocery store owner.[2][3][4] Her father was of Lebanese descent, while her mother was of Irish ancestry.[5] As a child, Yasbeck was featured on the package art for the Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven. Years later, in 2000, she was presented with a new Easy-Bake Oven on the show I've Got a Secret, for which she was a regular panel member.

She spent her primary and secondary years at two different Catholic schools: Summit Country Day School and Ursuline Academy. She then enrolled in the theater program at the University of Detroit, but didn't graduate.[6] In 1983, after the deaths of both of her parents, her father from a heart attack and her mother from emphysema, Yasbeck moved to New York City.

Early into her acting career, she appeared in Rockhopper, an unsold television pilot from 1985. Yasbeck has had guest-starring roles in many television shows, including Dallas, Spies, Werewolf, J.J. Starbuck, Magnum, P.I., China Beach, and Murphy Brown. She auditioned for the role of Elaine Benes on Seinfeld.[7] She played Olivia Reed for four months between 1986 and 1987 on the long-running daytime drama Days of Our Lives. She also played the starring role of the mermaid Madison in the Disney television film Splash, Too in 1988 (the role of Madison was originated by Daryl Hannah in the 1984 film Splash). Yasbeck also had starring roles in the sitcoms Wings, Alright Already, and Life on a Stick and in movies such as House II: The Second Story, Pretty Woman, Problem Child, Problem Child 2, and The Mask. She has twice worked with Mel Brooks: in 1993's Robin Hood: Men in Tights and 1995's Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

Yasbeck also appeared once on the hit DCOS That's So Raven as the mother of the character Chelsea. The episode originally aired on September 22, 2006.

In late 2007, plans surfaced of a potential That's So Raven spin-off featuring Yasbeck and Anneliese van der Pol, who portrayed her daughter, with occasional appearances by Raven-Symoné. The show was scrapped due to van der Pol signing onto a Broadway play, and Yasbeck wanting to take a break from acting to focus on her family.

She was a contestant on the syndicated version of Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? in 2010.

Yasbeck is the widow of actor John Ritter, with whom she had worked in several projects. She first met him at director Dennis Dugan's house during a read-through of their film Problem Child.

Yasbeck and Ritter also starred together in Problem Child 2 (1991) and guest-starred together in an episode of The Cosby Show that aired in 1991. Ritter also guest-starred on Wings as Yasbeck's estranged husband in the season-seven episode "Love Overboard". The couple had a child together in 1998, and they married the following year on September 18, 1999, at the Murphy Theatre in Wilmington, Ohio.[8]

On September 11, 2003, Ritter fell into a coma when rehearsing for 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. He was taken to the hospital by paramedics. Initially, Ritter was thought to be suffering a heart attack. At 10:48 that night, Ritter died. The cause of death was later determined to be an aortic dissection stemming from a previously undiagnosed congenital heart defect.[9]

Yasbeck gave her blessing to the continuation of the sitcom, as 8 Simple Rules, where it was ultimately decided that Katey Sagal's character would assume the lead role as a widow.[9]

Yasbeck appeared on Larry King Live on June 16, 2008, to discuss heart disease.[10]

On the September 5, 1990, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, she said that her "great-great-great uncle" Charles Webb Murphy was the owner of the Chicago Cubs during their championships of the early 1900s.

• Yasbeck, Amy (September 7, 2010). With Love and Laughter, John Ritter. New York: Gallery Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-9841-1.

• Amy Yasbeck at IMDb
• Amy Yasbeck at the TCM Movie Database
• Amy Yasbeck at AllMovie