Ron Palillo

Ronald Gabriel "Ron" Paolillo (April 2, 1949 – August 14, 2012) was an American television and film actor and teacher. He was best known as Arnold Horshack on the ABC sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–79).

Partner(s):

• Joseph Gramm (1971–2012; Palillo's death)

Early life and education

Ronald Gabriel Paolillo (he used the surname "Palillo" during his acting career) was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Gabriel and Carmel Paolillo, of Italian descent and raised in Cheshire. He graduated from the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he taught  during the late 1990s.

Career

After Welcome Back, Kotter, Palillo appeared in leading and supporting roles in various television series and films. He voiced characters on such animated series as Laverne & Shirley in the Army, Darkwing Duck, and Rubik, the Amazing Cube, in which he played the lead character. In 1996, Palillo played himself in several episodes of the television sitcom Ellen, playing Audrey (Ellen's friend)'s love interest. Palillo also spent a year on the popular daytime show One Life to Live and also acted in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), and the lead in The Curse of Micah Rood.

He returned to New York in 1991, and played such roles as Mozart in Amadeus and regionally as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Arthur in Camelot and Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. He appeared on Broadway in 2008 in Broadway Backwards 4, a charity event benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. Among his other New York City credits were a one-person show in 2000 where he portrayed Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann in The Diary of Adolf Eichmann off-Broadway. Palillo, in a newspaper interview in 1997, said he lamented his role as Horshack as he was permanently typecast, which he believed had damaged his career.

As a director, Palillo directed successful productions of the musical Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down in Los Angeles, A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, and a new edition of Phantom Of The Opera at the Cuillo Center for the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. In 2007, he introduced a new clothing line specializing in limited-edition T-shirts produced by Rotter and Friends. Palillo was also an artist, providing artwork for two children's books: The Red Wings of Christmas and A Gift for the Contessa.

In 2005, his first full-length play, The Lost Boy, the true story of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie, premiered at the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, New York, and later played at the Queens Theatre in the Park, in Queens, New York and at the Eldorado's Springs High School in Eldorado Springs, Missouri.

He taught freshman drama at G-Star School Of The Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting in Palm Springs, Florida.

Personal life and death

Palillo and his partner of 41 years, Joseph Gramm, lived in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. On August 14, 2012, Palillo suffered a heart attack at his home and was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Palillo's funeral service was held in Palm Beach Gardens on August 22, 2012. A memorial tribute directed by Lawrence Leritz and hosted by Tyne Daly, was held to honor and celebrate Palillo's life and career at NYC's The Triad Theatre, October 3, 2012.

Filmography

• Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979)
• The Tempest (1983)
• Surf II (1984)
• Doin’ Time (1985)
• Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
• Hellgate (1989)
• Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster (1989)
• Committed (1991)
• Wind (1992)
• Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003)
• Trees 2: The Root of All Evil (2004)
• The Curse of Micah Rood (2008)
• The Guardians (2010)