Gregory Sierra, a longtime actor who appeared in television shows and movies, especially on “Barney Miller” and “Sanford and Son”, died on January 4 in Laguna Woods, California, of cancer. He was 83 years old.
Born in New York, Sierra’s discovery came when he was cast as Julio Fuentes, Redd Foxx’s Puerto Rican neighbor Fred Sanford on “Sanford and Son.”
After leaving that series, Sierra played one of the original detectives working in the various 12 sections of Greenwich Village on ABC’s “Barney Miller.” After the second season, he was removed from the series to play in “AES Hudson Street”, a sitcom about a frantic emergency room, but lasted only six episodes.
Sierra also appeared as a radical Jewish vigilante in “Archie Is Branded,” a 1973 episode of CBS’s “All in the Family,” in which someone paints a swastika on Archie’s door. The episode, which ends in silence, was one of the most memorable in the long-running series.
Born on January 25, 1937 in Harlem, Spain, Sierra attended the Immaculate Conception Cathedral College in Brooklyn. After school, he worked with the National Shakespeare Company and the New York Shakespeare Festival before moving to Los Angeles, where he began receiving major television appearances and supporting roles in films such as “Under the Planet of the Apes,” “Getting Justice.” ”“ Papillon ”and“ Hell Tower ”.
She has had recurring roles in several television shows, including “Hill Street Blues”, “Miami Vice” and “Murder, She Wrote” and has appeared in a number of other series.
Miami Vice Star Edward James Olmos wrote on Twitter that he read the news of Sierra’s death and cried. “Gregory Sierra will be with us forever,” Olmos wrote. “Those who knew him. His laughter. His wisdom. His kindness. His extraordinary artistic ability. He was a friend, a mentor, a force of nature with whom I was so grateful that I met and worked. RIP. “