Alan Sacks, Co-Creator of ‘Welcome, Back, Kotter,’ Dies at 81

Alan Sacks, who teamed with stand-up comic and fellow Brooklynite Gabe Kaplan to create the popular 1970s ABC sitcom Welcome, Back, Kotter, has died. He was 81.

Sacks died Monday of complications from lymphoma in New York while on a visit there, his wife, talent agent Annette van Duren, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was first diagnosed 22 years ago but spent several years in remission before the cancer returned.

In the 1980s, after a project involving the iconic L.A. band The Runaways never got off the ground, Sacks took the footage and incorporated it into a plot about a director working on a tight deadline to finish a movie starring Runaways member Joan Jett.

The resulting film, Du-Beat-e-o (1984), which he also helmed, was set against the background of the hardcore L.A. punk scene and featured Ray Sharkey and Derf Scratch of the punk band Fear.

He also wrote and produced the skateboarding film Thrashin’ (1986), which starred Josh Brolin, Robert Rusler and Pamela Gidley and included a musical performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, their first appearance in a movie.

More recently, he produced projects for the Disney Channel.

Produced by The Komack Co. and Wolper Productions, Welcome Back, Kotter debuted in September 1975 and starred Kaplan as the wisecracking teacher Gabe Kotter.

His students at James Buchanan High School — nicknamed the Sweathogs — included Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta), Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) and Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo).

The sitcom lasted four seasons and 95 episodes through May 1979.

Born in Brooklyn on Dec. 9, 1942, Sacks earned his master’s degree in broadcasting from Brooklyn College, and his first job in show business was in the research department at ABC. In 1969, he moved to L.A. and worked as a program executive at the network.

In 1974-75, Sacks served as a producer and a production executive on NBC’s Chico and the Man, the Freddie Prinze starrer that was created by Kotter executive producer James Komack.

Later, he produced such made-for-television movies as Women at West Point (1979), A Cry for Love (1980), Twirl (1981) and Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982), starring Sondra Locke.

In 1991, Sacks created and produced the Saturday morning CBS kids show Riders in the Sky — built around the comedic Western band known by that name — which replaced Pee-wee’s Playhouse, starring Paul Reubens.

Sacks began producing films for the Disney Channel, starting with Smart House (1999). He followed that with the Emmy-winning The Color of Friendship (2000), which earned awards from the Humanitas organization and the NAACP as well.

He executive produced Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010), both starring Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, and did several other projects with the brothers while also working for their company.

Sacks also wrote, directed and co-produced the 2006 off-Broadway production Lenny Bruce … In His Own Words and produced documentaries including Elko: The Cowboy Gathering (1994) and His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Compassion as a Source of Happiness (2007).

While Sacks was producing for the Disney Channel, he began teaching at Los Angeles Valley College. He became a professor emeritus there and taught film, TV and broadcasting until his retirement in 2007.

Sacks’ final production was the podcast Peter & the Acid King, which documented the unsolved 1984 murder of his friend Peter Ivers, a staple in the L.A. punk scene. He interviewed more than 70 people to try to solve the mystery of Ivers’ death.

In addition to his wife of 34 years, survivors include his daughters, Samantha and Shannon, his son, Austin, and his sister, Jodi.