Ron Palillo, TV's 'Horshack,' dead at 63

[Ruby the Liberal]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Actor Ron Palillo, who played class clown Arnold Horshack on the 1970s television comedy "Welcome Back, Kotter," has died at age 63, his agent said Tuesday.

Palillo died of a heart attack in the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, area, where he had moved to live near his mother and was active in the theater, his agent, Scott Stander, told CNN.

He was best known for his role as one of the "Sweathogs" -- remedial students at a Brooklyn high school -- on the 1975-79 show, which starred Gabe Kaplan and launched the career of fellow Sweathog John Travolta. Palillo's "Oooh! Oooh!" appeals for attention became the character's catchphrase.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/showbiz/obit-palillo/index.html

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RIP, Horshack

[AngryOldDem]

1. Damn.

So young.

RIP.

[Archae]

2. First Epstein, now Horshack.

Crap.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Epstein's gone too? :^(

[Archae]

6. Yup.

We all got the note...

Please excuse Juan Epstein from class today, he's dead.

-Epstein's Mother

Died:
January 26, 2012

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. :^(

[watrwefitinfor]

21. Damn. Now you really made me cry. n/t

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Died in January.

[yurbud]

25. Did they film that show downwind of Three Mile Island or something?

They better put Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington and Gabe Kaplan in the ICU pre-emptively.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. :^( Perfect picture of him. Just the way I remember him from my youth.

[leftynyc]

4. RIP Horshak

Loved this show when I was younger.

[RedStateLiberal]

8. Awwww man.

I loved him in that show when I was a kid.

R.I.P.

[rfranklin]

11. Hey, I loved it as an adult!

Marcia Strassman was hot as well.

[Justice wanted]

10. OMG man! R.I.P Ron

Thank you for your work

[AngryAmish]

12. The Kotter Kurse

First Barbarino loses a son, the Epstein, now Horshack.

The entire kast is kursed, I tell ya!

[Bertha Venation]

13. Damn.

RIP, Ron.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. How sad. I also didn't know he was gay.

RIP

[Vidar]

15. RIP Horshack.

[KamaAina]

16. I guess it's not just the cattle who are dying

"Horshack is an old and honorable name. It means 'the cattle are dying'."

[craigmatic]

17. This is so sad. I loved that show.

[Jennicut]

18. My parents went to high school with him.

He grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut and they all went to Cheshire High School. He was a year behind them. My parents were shocked to learn about this. Very sad news today.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Arggggghhhh

Another Sweat Hog gone. That show was a staple through my entire 4 years in high school.

Condolences to the Palillo family and R.I.P. Ron.

"Oooo! OoooOooooo! Mister KOTTTTT-errrrrrrrr!!!!"

[Major Hogwash]

20. Wow, he was pretty young.

That program was pretty funny when it first started.
I liked watching Vinny, Horshack, "Boom Boom" Washington, and Epstein interact with Mr Kotter.
I can't remember what the principal's name was of the school they went to, though, but he was a familiar character to me. We had a teacher that was just like him at the high school I went to.

[Cooley Hurd]

22. Mr Woodman was the principal

...played by John Sylvester White. He's dead, as well...

[Cooley Hurd]

23. I loved the show and though Horshack was the funniest of the Sweathogs...

He seemed the most... vulnerable.

Cross gently, Ron. Damn...

[underpants]

24. Palillo is survived by Joseph Gramm, his partner of 41 years

What a great character Horshack was

[CBHagman]

27. That was the last line of The Washington Post obit.

Forty-one years! I'm not sure I know that many couples who ave spent that much time together.

[needledriver]

26. Goodbye, Ron Paul

I worked with him in New York in the 1970's (in the HOT L Baltimore) when his acting name was name Ron Paul Little. I bumped into him again years later when he came to do an episode of Murder, She Wrote. I still called him Ron Paul - he kind of liked it because no-one had called him that for years.

Goodbye, Ron Paul.