Welcome Back, Kotter

Credit: Getty

Welcome Back, Kotter Actor Ron Palillo Dies

Originally posted 08/14/2012 01:15PM

Ron Palillo, the boyish actor who played Arnold Horshack, the remedial-class loser on Welcome Back, Kotter, died Tuesday morning at his home near Palm Beach, Fla., TMZ reports. He was 63.

He suffered an apparent heart attack and was found by his longtime companion, Joseph Gramm, according to the report. Rushed to the hospital, Palillo, a heavy smoker, was pronounced dead upon arrival.

According to a 1977 PEOPLE profile, Palillo's most-famous role cast him against type – he had been an overachiever from his childhood in Cheshire, Conn.

Permalink |

Filed Under: Death, Tributes, Welcome Back, Kotter, TV News, John Travolta, Ron Palillo

Pick the Best TV Theme Song

Originally posted 07/03/2012 01:15PM

Great TV show theme songs have a tendency to sneak up on you when you least expect it. Often times, you'll find yourself humming one while taking a shower or walking down the street – and soon enough it'll be stuck in your head for the entire rest of the day!

But that's what makes a theme great. It worms its way into your brain and stays there for as long as you can remember, just like a decent Top 40 hit. Sometimes, if it's good enough, it'll even stick around after a show has ended.

Permalink |

Filed Under: All in the Family, Cheers, Friends, Gilligan's Island, Hill Street Blues, M*A*S*H, Mission: Impossible, The Addams Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Welcome Back, Kotter, TV News

Credit: Everett

Robert Hegyes, Welcome Back, Kotter Star, Dies

Originally posted 01/26/2012 06:35PM

Robert Hegyes, best known as John Travolta's fellow "Sweathog" Juan Epstein on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, has died. He was 60

Hegyes died from an apparent heart attack after having chest pains, The Star-Ledger reports. His brother tells the New Jersey paper the actor had suffered a heart attack in the last couple of years and was not well.

Hegyes, who was born in New Jersey, played a wise-cracking Jewish Puerto Rican student with an infectious wide grin. He co-starred in the classic comedy with a young Travolta, who played Vinnie Barbarino.