Gregory Sierra

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Latino actor Gregory Sierra was born January 25, 1941, in New York City. He is familiar to fans of Barney Miller as Detective Sergeant Chano Amenguale, and as Julio Fuentes, the Puerto Rican neighbor on Sanford and Son, where his character was often the brunt of racist insults and jokes via the show's main character, Fred G. Sanford (portrayed by Redd Foxx). Sierra also starred as a Jewish radical on the controversial series All in the Family, who was in the Hebrew Defense League, 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 during which they spray-painted a swastika on the Bunkers' door. He is later killed by a car bomb planted by the Neo-Nazis. He later went on to star as Dr. Tony Menzies on the unsuccessful sitcom A.E.S. Hudson Street. He was cast as South American revolutionary "El Puerco" on the serial spoof 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 Common Law.