‘Kotter’ Star Marcia Strassman Dies

Marcia Strassman, who played Gabe Kaplan’s wife Julie on the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter—which launched the career of John Travolta—has died at age 66. The actress had battled breast cancer for seven years, according to her sister Julie Strassman. “They gave her two and a half years, but she lasted much longer,” her sister said. “She was very courageous.” Marcia Strassman appeared in the first season of MASH, but her breakout role was on Kotter, the hit comedy about a teacher returning to the tough high school of his youth to teach a class of misfits that included Travolta. She also played Rick Moranis’s wife in the Disney movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel Honey I Blew Up the Kid.