Winkler testifies at Ritter death trial

Happy Days star Henry Winkler has testified in a $67 million lawsuit over the death of actor John Ritter.

The 62-year-old, who played The Fonz in the '70s sitcom, told the court he had chatted to his close friend a few hours before was taken ill.

Ritter was rushed to hospital on September 11, 2003 after feeling nauseous on the set of his ABC TV show 8 Simple Rules... For Dating My Teenage Daughter. He died from a dissection of the aorta, the result of an unrecognized flaw in his heart.

Winkler was making a guest appearance on the programme at the time but said there was no hint that anything was wrong.

He told jurors: "We were reminiscing. He was sweating [and said] 'I really need to get some water'. I said 'I really need to memorise my lines'. And he went one way and I went the other. And that was the last time I saw him."

He added that Ritter, who was best known for his role in hit '70s comedy Three's Company, was delighted that "lightning had struck again" and he had another hit series.

Ritter's family is suing a radiologist who had previously given him a body scan, and a cardiologist who allegedly treated him for a heart attack rather than a torn aorta when he arrived at the hospital.

The defence has denied that the doctors were responsible for the actor's death, saying the body scan showed his aorta was of normal size and there was no evidence that it would tear.