Gregory Sierra, who was a key part of two great 1970s sitcoms like Julio Fuentes in Sanford and Son and Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amenguale in Barney Miller, died. He was 83 years old.
Sierra died on January 4 in Laguna Woods, California, of cancer, according to a family spokesman. His death became public today.
Born in New York’s Spanish Harlem, Sierra worked at the National Shakespeare Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival. He also appeared in off-Broadway plays and was a standby on Broadway for The Lady of the Ninety Days in 1967.
Moving to Los Angeles, Sierra had cameos in shows like It takes a thief, medical Center, The high chaparral, Mod Squad, The flying nun and Kung Fu.
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In the films, he was also a supporting actor in Below the planet of monkeys (1970), Staying straight (1970), Papillon (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974) and the Orson Welles project The other side of the wind.
Everett Collection
In 1972, he was cast as Julio, the assistant to the grumpy businessman of the junkyard Fred Sanford. He was featured in the second season’s episode, “The Puerto Ricans Are Coming”. The show, developed by Everyone in the family creators Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear, led to another memorable appearance in one of their vehicles, as Sierra played a radical Jewish watchman in the episode “Archie is Branded” in 1973.
The versatile Sierra was also chosen later to portray Carlos “El Puerco” Valdez, a counter-revolutionary from Malaguay who kidnaps Jessica (Katherine Helmond) on the ABC channel Soap.
After Sanford and son, Sierra hit comedy gold again, appearing in 1975 as one of New York’s original detectives in Barney Miller. Sierra played Chano on the show.
Sierra left Barney Miller at the end of the second season, moving on to another sitcom directed by Barney Miller creator Danny Arnold. AES Hudson Street it was set in a New York emergency room, but ended after just six episodes.
Sierra’s career continued as a recurring character in programs such as Hill Street Blues, Zorro and son, Miami Vice and Murder, she wrote, among many others.
Continuing her stable career, Sierra also appeared in the film The problem with spies (1987), Honey, I blew up the child (1992), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), A dirty shame (1994), Vampires (1998) and Mafia! (1998).
He leaves his wife, Helene. No memorial plans have been announced.