Gabe Kaplan ("Welcome Back, Kotter") became a professional gambler.


http://vincentfiore.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/gabe-kaplan.jpg

I don't know...I don't think he's given up comedy ENTIRELY - in 2007 he published a hilarious book. He also appears to have mended fences with his TV wife, Marcia Strassman, in recent years.

...although Gabe was in a bitter fight with producer James Komack over creative control of the show during its third season; he lost, and was rarely seen during the fourth [and final] season as a result {that's the season where some viewers wondered, "Aren't the Sweathogs a little too old for this kind of nonsense?"}. His next series, co-produced by Johnny Carson's production company, was "LEWIS & CLARK", a short-lived NBC series (1981-'82, about a city guy running a "cowboy bar" with his country friend/partner), that came and went. That's when Kaplan decided to turn his attention to "other things", like becoming a professional poker player. Lately, he's concentrated on somewhat "reactivating" his comedy chops...

:tv:

Not only did James Komack have to deal with the losses of Kaplan and Travolta on WBK - his other show, Chico & The Man, was reeling from the passing of Freddie Prinze. I don't think he was that involved in show biz after both shows left the air, and he died in 1997.

I agree - the final season of Kotter was painful. I read someplace when those episodes aired on Nick at Nite years ago - the ratings took a nosedive. They had been pretty good when the episodes from the first three seasons had aired. History repeating itself?? I think so.