Robert Hegyes | 'Kotter' actor, 60

Robert Hegyes, 60, the actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show Welcome Back Kotter, has died.

A spokesman at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J., told the Star-Ledger newspaper that Mr. Hegyes, of Metuchen, N.J., arrived at the hospital Thursday morning in full cardiac arrest and died.

Mr. Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975 when he auditioned for Kotter, a series about a teacher who returned to the inner-city New York school of his youth to teach a group of remedial students nicknamed the "Sweathogs." They included the character Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.

Mr. Hegyes was born in Perth Amboy and grew up in Metuchen, the eldest child of a Hungarian father and Italian mother.

He attended Rowan University, formerly Glassboro State College, in Glassboro, before heading to New York City after graduation. He returned to Rowan on several occasions to teach master classes in acting, a university spokesman said Thursday.

"He was a good friend to the university," spokesman Joe Cardona said.

Mr. Hegyes continued to act after Kotter and was a regular on Cagney & Lacey. He also guest-starred on programs, including Diagnosis Murder and The Drew Carey Show. - AP