The actor best known for playing Jewish Puerto Rican student Juan Epstein on the 1970s TV show “Welcome Back Kotter” has died.

Robert Hegyes, who grew up in New Jersey, was 60.

A spokesman at JFK Medical Center in Edison, NJ, told the Star-Ledger newspaper that Hegyes, of Metuchen, arrived at the hospital in the morning in full cardiac arrest.

Hegyes was appearing on Broadway in 1975 when he auditioned for “Kotter,” a TV series about a teacher who returns to the Brooklyn school of his youth to teach a group of remedial students.

The youths included the iconic character Vinnie Barbarino, played by John Travolta.

Hegyes also was a regular on “Cagney & Lacey,” and guest-starred in such shows as “Diagnosis Murder” and “The Drew Carey Show.”

On his Web site, Hegyes wrote that he was inspired by Chico Marx, with whom he had played in a touring production.