Welcome Back, Kotter's Juan Epstein, Robert Hegyes, Dead at 60

[MuffyBee]

http://www.eonline.com/news/welcome_back_kotters_juan_epstein/289570
Welcome Back, Kotter's Juan Epstein, Robert Hegyes, Dead at 60
By Natalie Finn
January 26, 2012

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Robert Hegyes, best known for playing Juan Epstein—one of Gabe Kaplan's "star" pupils—in Welcome Back, Kotter, died this morning after an apparent heart attack, according to New Jersey's Star Ledger. He was 60.

The actor, who also played a detective on the later seasons of Cagney & Lacey, had been in poor health since suffering a previous heart attack a couple of years ago, according to his brother.

But he will always be remembered as the note-from-his-mutha-forging Juan Luis Pedro Philippo DeHuevos Epstein!
"The character of Epstein from Welcome Back, Kotter was modeled after Chico," the avowed Marx Brothers fan wrote on his website. "The wheeler-dealer, skirt-chasing scam artist. In general I was able to relate to them culturally as well. They were immigrant Jews and I was an immigrant Italian."

And Epstein, of course, was a Puerto Rican Jew with anywhere from nine to seven siblings, depending on the episode.
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Hegyes, who was divorced at the time of his death, was married three times. His survivors include two children, two step-children and three siblings.
Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/celebrities/index.ssf/2012/01/robert_hegyes_juan_epstein_of.html
Robert Hegyes, Juan Epstein of 'Welcome Back Kotter' dead at 60
By Vicki Hyman/The Star-Ledger
January 26, 2012


WARNER BROS.Robert Hegyes, top right, starred as one of the Sweathogs in the '70s hit "Welcome Back Kotter," alongside John Travolta, left, Ron Palillo, second from left, Gabe Kaplan, center, and Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs.