Celebrity Nooz: Ron Palillo

Ron Palillo (Actor) as Arnold - Welcome Back Kotter

Updated: 4/30/2006

Name: Ron Palillo

Birth Name: Ron Paolillo

Born: April 2, 1949 in Cheshire, Connecticut

Claim To Fame: If you know who Ron is then you HAVE to know him for his role as the goofy and loveable sweathog Arnold Dingfelder Horshack from the TV show 'Welcome Back Kotter.'

Family Life: I couldn't find any information on his marriage, but did find that he has three kids: Son: Richard; Son: Robert; Daughter: Ann

Info: Being Horshack made it nearly impossible for Ron to get other roles right after the series was over. It seems that no one could take him seriously.

Trivia: Ron is an amazing color and black-and-white pen-and-ink artist. His works have been shown and sold in New York, Hawaii, and California. He has taken his talent to the world of children's literature, where he
has done illustrations for two books, A Gift for the Contessa and The Red Wings of Christmas.

Was defeated by Dustin Diamond (Screech from 'Saved by the Bell') in Fox's Celebrity Boxing 2 (2002).

At 14, Ron Palillo started his own summer theater in Cheshire,
Connecticut

It was Ron who came up with Horshack's over-enthusiastic "ooh-ooh."

According to an episode of "Welcome Back, Kotter", Horshack means, "the cattle are dying."

Ron combined the accents of his late Aunt from New Haven, Connecticut and the Dustin Hoffman character in "Midnight Cowboy" to develop the unique accent of Arnold Horshack.

He uses his given name Ronald G. Paolillo when he works as an artist. He uses it in memory of his father.

The name Paolillo is Italian and has its origin in the town of Bari, Puglia.

Where Are They Now: Today, Ron Palillo sports a new look and an exciting, busy life as an actor, writer, teacher, artist and producer. After the series ended in 1979, Ron says, "I lost ten years. Because of typecasting, there was nothing I could do." He set out reinventing himself. "I got a nose job, started working out, took the curl out of my hair -- I just felt like I had to do something."

Appears in operas and other stage performances. To date he has been in over over 40 states in numerous productions including Amadeus (Mozart), for which he won a Clevie Award for Best Actor, P.S. Your Cat is Dead (Vito), for which he won a Dramalogue Award for Best Actor... plus numerous other productions.

Write To Ron Palillo:
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