Robert Hegyes

Robert Hegyes was born in Perth Amboy New Jersey to an HungarianAmerican father Stephen and an ItalianAmerican mother Marie Dominica Cocozza He is the eldest of their children The others are Mark Hegyes MD Billings Montana Ms Stephanie Hegyes Princeton New Jersey and Ms Elizabeth Cocozza Los Angeles California Robert began studying acting in earnest at Metuchen High School under the direction of Dr Barton Shepard PhD in the mid1960s He was accepted into the Theater Program at Rown University of New Jersey formerly Glassboro State College and in the early 1970s graduated with a BA in Theater amp Secondary Education Hegyes then ventured into New York City to practice his trade immediately taking up with the Greenwich Village Childrens Repertory Companies Theater in a Trunk and The NYC Childrens Puppet Ensemble In short order Robert hooked up with his third Greenwhich Village troupe Jack LaRumpas Flying Drum amp Kazoo Band performing improvisational antiwar comedy in Washington Square and the Provincetown Playhouse Within a year of graduating from Rowan Hegyes was cast to costar in the Manhattan Theater Club Emsmbles highlyacclaimed drama Naomi Court which starred another young actor Brad Davis of Midnight Express 1978 After completing that successful engagement Robert was tapped to costar for Tony Awardwinning actordirector Len Cariou A Little Night Music 1977 amp Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 1982 in the Broadway drama Dont Call Back starring Arlene Francis at the Helen Hayes Theater It was during the run of that Broadway drama that he was cast by producer James Komack to star in the awardwinning comedy series Welcome Back Kotter 1975 and at the age of twentyfive became one of the shows directors Robert has gueststarred in over thirty episodic series including Saturday Night Live 1975 with host Quentin Tarantino Diagnosis Murder 1993 with Dick Van Dyke and The Drew Carey Show 1995 He has starred in the awardnominated Passat commercial The Chase for director Kinka Usher and in the feature films Honeymoon Hotel 2004 opposite Jane Kaczmarek Underground Aces 1981 with Melanie Griffith Bob Roberts 1992 for director Tim Robbins Purpose 2002 starring Mia Farrow and Bar Hopping 2000 alongside Kevin Nealon Hegyes made his Los Angeles stage debut to rave notices as Chico Marx in Arthur Marxs play An Evening with Groucho and was shortly thereafter cast as a series regular starring in the awardwinning drama Cagney amp Lacey 1981 Robert has been awarded a lifetime artistinresidence status at his alma mater and has taught there and continues to guest lecture regularly He is also a California Certified Secondary Education Teacher and teaches for the Los Angeles Unified School District at Venice High School As a longtime resident of Venice California Robert and partner Craig Titley Cheaper by the Dozen 2003 developed the original Internet series The Venice Walk