Fate Reunited Two Welcome Back, Kotter Stars After Their On-Set Feud

Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman may have played a happy couple on "Welcome Back, Kotter," but IRL, things got testy. However, several years down the line, their kids went to school together, and that marked a major turning point. 

We weren't kidding when we said things got testy between Kaplan and Strassman. In fact, we may even have undersold how much the sitcom stars couldn't stand each other. After all, Strassman pulled no punches in a 1978 interview with People, revealing, "I'm miserable ... Gabe runs hot and cold, one day your best friend, the next day not speaking. Even blatant hostility would be easier to deal with." That wasn't all, though. She added, "It has always been hard to act with him, especially in intimate scenes. I hate the series. I pray every day for a cancellation. If this is what success means ... maybe I should get married and have babies." Yikes. One consolation, it would seem, is that even after Strassman bashed her co-star publicly a few months prior to the interview, "The man never said a word. Not a word." He did, however, respond when approached by People. "I had the feeling Marcia thought of me as a square, compared to most of her friends. But I always thought there was mutual respect. Obviously, I was wrong," he said. Double yikes!

"Welcome Back, Kotter" ultimately did wrap in 1979, granting Strassman her wish. However, she and Kaplan also learned eventually that the show's producer was manufacturing the drama between them. Strassman memorably addressed the beef in an interview and attributed it to "rats ... behind the scenes" (via Pop Goes the Culture TV). Long after the show wrapped, like we said, their kids also attended the same school, which paved the way for an unlikely friendship.

Despite having one of the nastiest feuds in sitcom history, Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman ultimately made a 180 more than a decade later when the latter spotted him at their kids' school. Kaplan told Time, "When I was in the schoolyard one day, I heard, 'Gabriel!' I knew immediately who it was, and from that point on we saw each other often." Strassman backed that up in an interview of her own, sharing, "There was a lot of time that we didn't get along (and not by any doing of our own) ... but now we're very close" (via Pop Goes the Culture TV). 

So close were the former co-stars that Kaplan actually provided an obituary for Time when Strassman sadly passed away in 2014. And, in addition to talking about their surprising friendship, Kaplan also shared that he wished his former co-star had had more opportunities to highlight her talents. "Marcia never really got that one dramatic role that would have let her show her chops," he lamented. He added that one of the reasons for her frustration on "Welcome Back, Kotter" was how stifled she felt. "Marcia was fed up with just being the straight woman for jokes. She was a tremendous actress, and she wanted to do more," he explained. 

For what it's worth, Kaplan had actually alluded to wanting Strassman to get more out of her role on "Welcome Back, Kotter" when he spoke to People. He even claimed to have advocated for her behind the scenes, but said he believed telling her that "would be unprofessional and I wouldn't want to play with her emotions like that." After years of feuding, we're glad to hear Strassman and Kaplan worked things out, because it seems they were on the same page all along.