Ron Palillo, of ‘Welcome Back, Kotter,’ dies at 63
Ron Palillo, the actor best known as the nerdy high school student Arnold Horshack on the 1970s sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” died Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He was 63.
Palillo could not be revived after suffering an apparent heart attack at his home about 4 a.m., said Karen Poindexter, a close friend of the actor. He was pronounced dead at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.
Palillo was inextricably linked to the character he played from 1975 to 1979 on “Kotter,” the ABC sitcom, in which the title character returns to his Brooklyn alma mater to a group of loveable wiseguys known as the Sweathogs. Horshack was the nasally teen who yelped, “Oooh, oooh,” as his hand shot skyward when a teacher posed a question.