‘Barney Miller’ and ‘Sanford and Son’ actor Gregory Sierra dies at 83



[ad_1]

Gregory Sierra, best known for his roles as Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale on ABC crime drama “Barney Miller” and as Julio Fuentes on NBC sitcom “Sanford and Son” has died, his wife, Hélène Taber, said on Sunday. He was 83 years old.

Sierra died Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, Calif., After battling cancer, Taber said. Sierra, of Puerto Rican descent, was born and raised in New York City.

Gregory Sierra as Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez in “Miami Vice”.NBC / via Getty Images

“She was the most wonderful person,” Taber said. “He was a good heart and a brilliant actor.”

Actor Edward James Olmos said in a tweet that those who knew Sierra admired her laughter, her kindness, her wit and “extraordinary artistic ability.” Olmos described Sierra as a friend, mentor, and “a force of nature I was so grateful to have known and worked with. RIP”

Sierra found success in the early 1970s with his recurring role as Julio Fuentes, Fred G. Sanford’s neighbor, in “Sanford and Son” – a series based on a British television program that Norman Lear adapted into a sitcom. for NBC alongside Bud Yorkin.

Before coming to “Sanford and Son,” Sierra had already had ties to Lear. He appeared in an episode of the beloved sitcom “All in the Family” as Paul Benjamin, a Jewish extremist. Paul and Archie Bunker form a friendship after someone paints a swastika on the family’s front door. Paul offers protection from the Bunkers but is ultimately killed by a car bomb. This is the only episode without audience applause to close the show.

Sierra then played Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale on “Barney Miller,” a sitcom about the life of a group of New York Police detectives working in the 12th District of Greenwich Village. While the show initially focused on the work and home life of Captain Barney Miller, it gradually shifted to the precinct agents.

Sierra portrayed Chano as a dedicated and fearless cop, emotionally invested in his job. Nowhere has this been better displayed than in the 1975 episode “The Hero,” in which his character kills two suspects while preventing a robbery. His colleagues think he deserves praise, but a distraught Chano thinks otherwise, and he breaks down and cries.

Sierra’s career remained stable until the late ’90s, often finding him in law enforcement roles. He has appeared in “Miami Vice”, “Murder, She Wrote”, “Hill Street Blues” and “MacGyver”. Her other television roles included spots on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “The X-Files”.

“Miami Vice” actor Olivia Brown tweeted that Sierra’s death “hurts”.

“Gregory is a beautiful soul and he deserves to rest in peace. My condolences to his loved ones who I know loved him so much,” said Brown.

In the movie “The Towering Inferno”, Sierra played Carlo the bartender, and he appeared as a mutant called Orchard in “Beneath the Planet of the Apes.” His other films include Orson Welles’ “Butterfly”, “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” and “The Other Side of the Wind”.

As a resident of Laguna Woods, he starred in a local production of the play “See How They Run” in 2009. “Any role is demanding if you go through a process,” Sierra told The Orange County. Register at the time. “Because you are expecting something from yourself.”

He is survived by Taber.

Montez Flenoury and Variety contributed.



[ad_2]

Source link