“Welcome Back, Kotter” actor Robert Hegyes died Thursday morning after suffering a heart attack.
The 60-year-old had a previous heart attack a few years ago and had been in poor health since, his brother told New Jersey’s Star Ledger. The newspaper reported that police responded to a 911 call at 9:02 a.m. that Hegyes was esperiencing chest pains. He was taken to JFK Medical Center in Edison, but by the time he got to the emergency room he was in full cardiac arrest and died.
advertisement
The actor is best known for playing Puerto Rican Jew Juan Luis Pedro Philippo DeHuevos Epstein on “Welcome Back, Kotter,” a series about a teacher who returns to his former inner-city New York school to teach the “Sweathogs,” a group of struggling students.
Among those students was Vinnie Barbarino, who was played by a young John Travolta. The show ran from 1975 to 1979.
The original cast members reunited at last year’s TV Land Awards in honor of the series’ 35th Anniversary.
Hegyes, a New Jersey native who started his career off-Broadway, later appeared as a detective on “Cagney & Lacey” from 1986 to 1988. He guest starred on “Diagnosis: Murder” and “NewsRadio” and made a cameo on “The Drew Carey Show.”
He was married and divorced three times. He leaves behind three siblings, two children Cassie and Mack, and two step-children, Sophia and Alex.
