The Varied Roles of Character Actor Gregory Sierra

Who is Gregory Sierra? You ever watch a season 1 or 2 Barney Miller rerun and get wrapped up in the comedic angst of Chano Amanaguale, the suit-and-tie eschewing Puerto Ricano detective who just wants a little respect but, like his fellow NYPD detectives at the old 1-2, seldom gets it? This is Gregory Sierra, and in fact, these reruns are where I first came across the New York-born actor's work. Since then, I've been a Gregory Sierra fan, which is difficult, because the guy hasn't really had major role in anything since then. That being said, it's fun and worth it to put in the extra effort and track down films and tv shows where Gregory Sierra puts in an appearance. There are quite a few tiles spanning over his thirty five year (and then some) career. If you're interested in find more roles, check out this categorized list of some great Gregory Sierra roles i

Movies Where Gregory Sierra Is Killed Off:

Deep Cover: Laurence Fishburne stars as an undercover cop who walks the thin line between criminal and law enforcer. Sierra here plays Felix Barbosa, a big time cartel capo who likes to mess with Jeff Goldblum. Eventually, this leads to his getting his unholy backside kicked. Sierra's role is a little creepier than the usual Latino mobster. There's a weird dynamic between him and his sychophant sidekick, too. All in all, a really dark movie.

Towering Inferno: Keep those drinks coming! As the skyscraper burns, Sierra plays Carlos the bartender. You gotta love a 70s disaster movie. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen are the stars.

Papillion: In this one, I'm pretty sure Sierra dies via a poison dart while he's trying to escape off the prison island. Steve McQueen is the star here again. Dustin Hoffman co-stars.

Code Name: Dancer: Actually, does he get killed in this one, or not? It stars Kate Capshaw as a spy who comes back into the cold. Yeah, 'm pretty sure he gets killed.

John Carpenter's Vampires: James Woods goes on vampire killing spree while the bulkier Baldwin brother tries to preserve his vamp-ified love interest. Sierra plays a priest in this film for about five minutes. Then it's RIP.

Roles Where Gregory Sierra Wears A Wacky Costume:

Beneath The Planet of the Apes: I haven't actually seen this, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Sierra is an ape in this. James Gregory who would later co-star on Barney Miller as Inspector Luger stars.

Dr Quinn Medicine Woman:The Washington Affair Pts 1 & 2 (Season 3, episodes 7 & 8) Here Mr. Sierra has not only a Union calvary officer's get-up on, but a really long wig. It's sort of bizzarre looking, especially when he moves very much. That show had a thing about dudes with long hair. I don't know.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9: Second Skin (Season 3, episode 5) Here, Mr. Sierra, like basically every guest star on the show, wears some funky make-up making him into an alien. Hey, did you ever think Rene Auberjonois as Odo didn't look very different on the show than in real life? He's a good actor, that guy.

MacGyver: Jack of Lies (Season 2, episode six) You gotta love the good old fashioned Latino commandante role and the cheesy uniform that goes with it. At least he didn't have a wig on. His other MacGyver episode roles have him playing a captain and a colonel. I haven't seen these roles, but I've got a feeling the uniforms maintain the appropriate level of cheese.

Roles Where Gregory Sierra Goes Non-Latino Ethnic

Mafia! In this zany send-up of mob movies, Lloyd Bridges plays Don Cortino, a dementia-ridden Godfather. Mr. Sierra shows up as a Bonifacio, an Italian baker who wants a favor. It's Cortino's daughter's wedding, so you know he can't refuse. Jay Mohr stars

Hot Shots! Part Deux More parody with Lloyd Bridges. This is back when Charlie Sheen was funny. Mr. Sierra plays an Arab river boat captain in what could be described as a cameo.

All In The Family:Archie Is Branded (Season 3, episode 14) Here Mr. Sierra sheds his goyim cloak and plays Jewish activist Paul Benjamin. As I recall, he refers to Archie as bubby at least once. I won't give away how it ends, but, let's just say, it fits into the first category here...

The Waltons: The Gypsies(Season 1, Episode 19): Mr. Sierra plays a gypsy, I guess, named Volta. A gypsy during the Great Depression, in Virginia. Ought to have been interesting. Good night, John Boy. Good night, Volta.

Sci Fi Sierra:

X-FilesJersey Devil (Season 1, Episode 4).
Mulder and Scully are looking for a beast that prowls around the Jersey woods. Sierra's a university scientists who endeavors to help them. There's a pretty funny scene where they're all running along this road. Unintentionally funny I should say.

Something Is Out There
Joe Cortese and Maryam D'Abo are a human-alien crime stopping team. As Capt. Maldanado, Sierra is their boss. Aliens, alines were out there (cross reference this title with "Sierra Series that didn't quite make it" below)

The Clones
The title seems pretty self-explanatory. I've never seen this movie, because, well, it's called The Clones. Co-stars Drew Barrymore's late father.

Sierra Series That Didn't Quite Make It

AES Hudson Street
As Dr. Victor Menzies, Sierra ran the Adult Emergency Services department at some low-income hospital. The "terminal" and "plug got pulled" puns are too obvious, so I'll just moved on.

Common Law
Comedian Greg Giraldo, maybe best known for his appearances on the panel show "Tough Crowd" - or at least best known to me for his appearances on the panel show "Tough Crowd" tried to play a lawyer on this show. Sierra was the old fashioned dad. I think he was a barber or something. Don't look for it coming soon on DVD.

Zorro and Son
Playing Capt. Paco Pico (break out the colonial soldier outfits…), Gregory Sierra joined a cast that included
Paul Regina and Henry Darrow. The series lasted one year in syndication.

Sierra Series Where His Character Didn't Quite Make It

Miami Vice
Don Johnson, Phillip Michael Thomas and Edward James Olmos became 80s household names with this super hip series. Gregory Sierra? His character got killed off and replaced by Olmos.

Most Well-known roles:

Sanford & Son: Sierra played Puerto Rican transplant Julio, the Sanfords' neighbor and fellow junk dealer. With his thick accent and country-ishways, including a pet goat (ah, the 70s, such a subtle time…) , Julio drove Fred to distraction, though he never seemed to notice.

Barney Miller
No, they didn't kill of Chano. I think Sierra left on his own free will. The series endured for like, 8 (or is it 80…) season, growing increasingly less diverse as it went on (Man, that Leavitt was SO annoying…) Chano only lasted about one season and change.

Soap: Sierra played El Puerco, a, yes, Latin American revolutionary who hooked up with the main female character
in the final season. I've never seen a whole episode of this show, so, don't take my word for it.

My personal favorite Gregory Sierra role:

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit
This is such a cute movie, and one of the few feature films of the last fifteen years where we really get to see Mr. Sierra do anything big. A good movie for kids. Also star Esai Morales, Joe Mantenga and Clifton (Gonzalez Gonzales) Collins (late of Capote)

Where is Gregory Sierra now?
I have no idea. Maybe he's retired. I know he's not dead, at least not according to that website "Alive or Dead". With more older shows coming out on DVD, you can at least catch some of his retro work. Besides the shows mentioned, he guested on everything from "Hill Street Blues" to "Murder She Wrote".