| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gregory Sierra, in this 1996 TV series publicity photo, played Julio Fuentes on the "Sanford and Son" TV series. | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Born: | 25 January 1987 | |||
| Birthplace: | New York City | |||
| Died: | 4 January 2021 (age 83) | |||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actor | |||
| Years active: | 1969-2018 | |||
| Website/ URL: |
http://www.the-cape.com/the_cape/whit/biograph.htm | |||
| Character/Series involvement | ||||
| Series: | All in the Family | |||
| Episodes appeared in: | Season 3 in guest appearance in the episode "Archie is Branded" | |||
| Character played: | Paul Benjamin | |||
Gregory Sierra appeared as Paul Benjamin, a Jewish militant reactionary and member of the "Hebrew Defense Association" (HDA), a Jewish radical reactionary activist group who appears in the Season 3 episode of All in the Family titled "Archie Is Branded". Gregory is perhaps best known for his appearance the role of Julio Fuentes, a Puerto-Rican junk dealer from New York City who moves next door to the Sanfords in another Bud Yorkin/Norman Lear produced comedy series, the NBC-TV series Sanford and Son. Gregory, a seasoned veteran actor who is also known for his role as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale on the ABC-TV series Barney Miller.
Acting Career
Gregory also guest-starred as a Jewish radical vigilante activist in an unusually dramatic episode of All in the Family, working with the Hebrew Defense Association, an organization whose goal it was to stop anti-Semitism in the neighborhood. In the plot, he volunteers in helping to chase away neo-Nazi thugs presiding in the neighborhood who spray-painted a swastika on the Bunkers' front door. He is later killed by a car bomb planted by the neo-Nazis. The actor later went on to star as Dr. Tony Menzies on the unsuccessful sitcom A.E.S. Hudson Street.
In 1980 Sierra was cast as South American anti-Communist revolutionary "El Puerco" — whose friends simply call him "El" — on the ABC-TV serial spoof comedy series SOAP, figuring prominently in the series' unresolved final episode in 1981. In 1984, he briefly became a main cast member of the then-new TV drama Miami Vice where he played Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez; he asked to be written out of the series after just four episodes. More recently he had regular roles on the TV shows Zorro and Son, Something is Out There, and the 1996 CBS-TV legal/drama series Common Law.
In 1992, Gregory played pernicious drug dealer Felix Barbossa in the Bill Duke-directed Deep Cover, which also starred Laurence Fishburne] and Jeff Goldblum. He also played a man named Villanazul in the low-budget 1998 movie The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit He also appeared as Corbin Entek in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Second Skin".
Sierra was of Puerto Rican descent.[1] He has performed with the National Shakespeare Conservatory in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He lived in Laguna Woods, California.[2]
References
- ↑ An old pro returns to stage, by Claire Webb for The Orange County Register, 2009-11-16, accessed 2012-06-06.
- ↑ The Orange County (CA) Register
