Robert Hegyes, Played Epstein On 'Welcome Back Kotter,' Dies.Metuchen, New Jersey (AP) - Robert Hegyes, the actor best known for playing Jewish student Juan Epstein Puerto Rico in the 1970 TV show "Welcome Back Kotter," has died. He was 60.
The Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Fords, New Jersey, said he was informed of the death Hegyes Thursday 'by the family of actor.
A spokesman for JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey, told the Star-Ledger Hegyes, of Metuchen, came to the hospital Thursday morning in cardiac arrest and died.
Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975, when he auditioned for Kotter, a television series about a teacher who returns to downtown New York school of his youth to teach a group of irreverent remedial students dubbed the “Sweat hogs. " Among them, the character of Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.
Song of the series theme, performed by John Sebastian, became a pop hit.
By Larry Busacca, Getty Images
Robert Hedges, left, with John Travolta on April 10, 2011, in the TV Land Awards in New York.
Hegyes also appeared in several television series, including Cagney & Lacey.
Born in Perth Amboy and raised in Metuchen, the eldest son of a Hungarian father and Italian mother.
He attended Rowan University, formerly Glassboro State College in southern New Jersey, before heading to New York after graduation. Rowan returned several times to give master classes in acting, a university spokesman said Thursday.
"It was a good friend of the university," said spokesman Joe Cardona.
Hegyes continued to act after Kotter and was a regular on Cagney & Lacey. He also guest-starred on such shows as Diagnosis Murder and The Drew Carey Show.
On its website, Hegyes wrote that was inspired by Chico Marx, who had played in a touring production of a show about the Marx Brothers also recalled how his mother encouraged him to participate in the theater as a teenager.
The Flynn & Son Funeral Home in Fords, New Jersey, said he was informed of the death Hegyes Thursday 'by the family of actor.
A spokesman for JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey, told the Star-Ledger Hegyes, of Metuchen, came to the hospital Thursday morning in cardiac arrest and died.
Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975, when he auditioned for Kotter, a television series about a teacher who returns to downtown New York school of his youth to teach a group of irreverent remedial students dubbed the “Sweat hogs. " Among them, the character of Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.
Song of the series theme, performed by John Sebastian, became a pop hit.
By Larry Busacca, Getty Images
Robert Hedges, left, with John Travolta on April 10, 2011, in the TV Land Awards in New York.
Hegyes also appeared in several television series, including Cagney & Lacey.
Born in Perth Amboy and raised in Metuchen, the eldest son of a Hungarian father and Italian mother.
He attended Rowan University, formerly Glassboro State College in southern New Jersey, before heading to New York after graduation. Rowan returned several times to give master classes in acting, a university spokesman said Thursday.
"It was a good friend of the university," said spokesman Joe Cardona.
Hegyes continued to act after Kotter and was a regular on Cagney & Lacey. He also guest-starred on such shows as Diagnosis Murder and The Drew Carey Show.
On its website, Hegyes wrote that was inspired by Chico Marx, who had played in a touring production of a show about the Marx Brothers also recalled how his mother encouraged him to participate in the theater as a teenager.
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