Sad to hear of the death (by heart attack at age 60) of Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein on Welcome Back, Kotter. My partner Dennis Palumbo and I put in a season as Story Editors on that series and also wrote a Love Boat episode in which Bobby was, by his own admission, grossly miscast. In a way, he was miscast as Epstein, too. The role as envisioned was that of a big, doesn't-know-his-own-strength dumb guy but when Bobby auditioned for one of the other roles (Barbarino, I imagine), the producers liked him so much that they changed Epstein to make him more like Hegyes. It proved to be a wise move. Audiences loved him.
I have no bad stories about Bobby Hegyes. I don't think I'd tell them just now if I did but honestly, I have none. He was very dedicated to the work and very adept at dealing with the last minute script rewrites we threw at the cast. There was much tension around that series and grand feuds and arguments. None of that involved Bobby.
I ran into him a few times after I left the show, including one time outside a theater where I'd just seen him play Chico Marx to Gabe Kaplan's Groucho. He was a darn good Chico there…and to some extent on Kotter, as well. I do recall him telling me that he was less interested in acting than he was in writing and directing, and I was glad to see he got to do a lot behind the camera, as well as in front. He was good in both places and a very nice guy, as well.