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Retro 70s TV Show “Welcome Back Kotter” TV Wife Marcia Strassmen Dies At 66

Marcia StrassmanMarcia Strassman, a versatile actress who was best known for her role as Gabe Kaplan’s wife on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, died on Friday, according to reports. She was 66.

Strassman died at her Sherman Oaks, Calif., home after battling breast cancer for seven years, her sister, Julie, told the Associated Press on Sunday.

“They gave her 2 ½ years to live but she lasted much longer,” she said. “She was very courageous.”

A friend, producer/director Bob Weide, first broke the news of her death on Twitter:

tweet

Strassman, who also made appearances on MAS*H and other 1970s TV series, gained fame as Julie Kotter in ABC’s Welcome Back, Kotter. The show centered around her TV husband (Kaplan), who returned to his Brooklyn school to teach a classroom full of misfits that included future superstar John Travolta.

Her big-screen work included the popular 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with Rick Moranis and its 1992 sequel, Honey I Blew Up the Kids.

Strassman also spent many years as a national board member of the Screen Actors Guild.

She’s the third Welcome Back, Kotter castmate to die in recent years. In 2012, Ron Palillo, who played Horshack, and Robert Hegyes, who played Epstein, both passed away.

Source: USA Today

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