Robert Hegyes played Juan Epstein
(NEWSER) - Robert Hegyes, who co-starred with John Travolta on the 1970s TV show Welcome Back Kotter, has died at 60, apparently of a heart attack. His health had been suffering for years, his brother said; he died yesterday at his home in the New Jersey town where he grew up. On Kotter, Hegyes played Juan Epstein, a Jewish Puerto Rican remedial student who was one of the show's "Sweathogs." Hegyes once wrote that he based his character on Chico Marx: "They were immigrant Jews, and I was an immigrant Italian. Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and Zeppo were intellectuals ... They all played the piano and took music lessons, and they were all juvenile delinquents; I could definitely relate." More»
