Actor Edward James Olmos tweeted that those who knew Sierra admired his laughter, kindness, wit, and “extraordinary artistic ability.”
Gregory Sierra, best known for his role as Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale on the ABC police series “Barney Miller” and as Julio Fuentes on the NBC sitcom “Sanford and Son” has died, his wife, Helene Taber, said Sunday. He was 83 years old.
Taber said Sierra died Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, California, after battling cancer. Sierra, of Puerto Rican descent, was born and raised in New York.
“He was the greatest,” Taber said. “He has a kind heart and is an excellent actor.”
Actor Edward James Olmos said in a tweet that those who knew Sierra admired his laughter, kindness, wit and “extraordinary artistic ability.” Olmos describes Sierra as a friend, a mentor and “a force of nature that I am grateful to know and work with. RIP”
Sierra achieved success in the early 1970s through her recurring role as Julio Fuentes, Fred G. Sanford’s neighbor, in “Sanford and Son” – a series based on a British television show that Norman Lear wrote. adapted into a sitcom for NBC with Bud Yorkin.
Before coming to “Sanford and Son”, Sierra was involved with Lear. He appeared in an episode of the beloved sitcom “All in the Family” as Paul Benjamin, a Jewish extremist. Paul and Archie Bunker struck up a friendship after someone drew a swastika on the family’s front door. Paul offers Bunkers protection but ends up being killed by a car bomb. This is the only episode without audience applause to end the show.
Sierra then played Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale in “Barney Miller,” a sitcom about the lives of a group of New York police detectives working at Greenwich Village’s 12th Precinct police station. Although the show initially focused on Captain Barney Miller’s work and family life, it gradually shifted to being about the precinct’s officers.
Sierra describes Chano as a dedicated and courageous police officer who is emotionally invested in his work. Nowhere is this more evident than in the 1975 episode “The Hero,” in which his character kills two suspects while stopping a robbery. His colleagues believe he deserves praise, but a distraught Chano feels otherwise, and he breaks down and cries.
Sierra’s career remained steady until the late 90s, often playing law enforcement roles. He appeared on “Miami Vice”, “Murder, She Wrote”, “Hill Street Blues” and “MacGyver”. His other television roles include guest spots on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “The X-Files.”
“Miami Vice” actor Olivia Brown tweeted that Sierra’s death “heartbreaks me.”
“Gregory was a beautiful soul and he deserves to rest in peace. I send my condolences to his loved ones, who I know loved him very much,” Brown said.
In the movie “The Towering Inferno”, Sierra played Carlo, the bartender, and he appeared as a mutant named Verger in “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”. His other films include Papillon, Honey, I Blow Up the Kid and Orson Welles’s The Other Side of the Wind.
A resident of Laguna Woods, he starred in a local production of the play “See How They Run” in 2009. “Any role is demanding,” Sierra told The Orange County Register at the time. you have to go through a process”. “Because you expect something of yourself.”
