ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040067
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: R.D. HELDENFELS KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
It took close to 20 years, therapy and a change of coasts, but Ron Palillo has finally made peace with Arnold Horshack.
Palillo played the sweathog Horshack on `` Welcome Back, Kotter,'' the 1975-79 ABC series about high school teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) and his band of underachieving students - especially Horshack, Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), Freddie ``Boom Boom'' Washington (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) and Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta).
The series was a big hit its first two seasons and put Travolta on the fast track to ``Saturday Night Fever'' and movie stardom.
Each of the young characters had memorable phrases and attitudes, none more so than Horshack, with a voice that ranged from a nasal whine to a high-pitched squeal, a much-used cry of ``Oooooh, ooh,'' when he knew the answer to a classroom question, and the look of a benign simpleton.
They were memorable enough that Palillo, Hegyes and Jacobs reprised their ``Kotter'' roles as guest stars on the NBC comedy ``Mr. Rhodes'' on Monday night. The sweathogs offered advice to one of the young prep-school students on `` Rhodes'' as he prepared to run away. (Teacher Tom Rhodes was also counseled by the spirit of Gabe Kotter, played by John Kassir.) Palillo was pleased by the return.
``I didn't know if the audience was going to remember us, but as soon as I popped up, the audience went wild,'' he said in a recent telephone interview from his New York City home. ``It was nonstop laughing and nonstop applause, and a three-minute scene ended up being six or seven minutes.''
He said he would work again with the ``Kotter'' co-stars ``in a second. And there is a lot of jabber about putting us in a show. ... There is a tape of the (``Mr. Rhodes'') show floating around executive offices.''
Even as he enjoys the new attention, Palillo has not forgotten the hard years after `` Kotter'' when he could not get work in Hollywood because ``everybody thought of me as Arnold Horshack.''
Although many actors have trouble maintaining success - Palillo said that all of the sweathog players, Travolta included, hit career bumps - the struggle was devastating to Palillo.
``After a while, I began to think I was my own worst enemy,'' he said. ``You know how a dog can smell fear? I think producers could smell desperation on me.
``At its worst,'' he said, ``I would not leave my house. I wasn't necessarily agoraphobic, I just didn't want to go out. I was in a huge depression, and it took me four years to realize what was going on.''
Finally, with the help of a psychiatrist, he began to turn things around. A big step came six years ago, when he left Los Angeles for New York City and found that Horshack had not followed him.
``As soon as I got back here, I went right back to work,'' he said. ``I played Mozart in `Amadeus.' I did a year on `One Life to Live.' I played Nathan Detroit, Truman Capote. I'm in the middle of negotiating to direct a Broadway musical. I've been teaching at the University of Connecticut, and I have a new book - `A Gift for the Contessa' - that I did the illustrations for. A lot of really good things have happened.''
With time and regular work, he was finally ready to revisit Horshack.
The ``Kotter'' cast has kept in touch, and he reunited with Hegyes and Jacobs for a parody of Travolta's ``Pulp Fiction'' at the MTV Movie Awards.
Last season, he did three episodes of ``Ellen'' as himself, who had a romance with Ellen's friend Audrey (Clea Lewis). Regularly referred to as ``Ron Palillo, TV's Horshack,'' by Audrey, Palillo was less concerned about that than about saying lines he'd never utter in real life.
``That `Oh, my darling, Audrey,' sort of thing,'' he said. ``It was much more difficult than playing Horshack.''
Then along came ``Mr. Rhodes.'' ``My first thought was, `Oh, God, no,''' Palillo said. ``Then, `I don't think this will do me any harm.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 72 linesby CNB