On a point of clarification, when was he an actor? Unless of course you think that he was simply "acting" as a singer during his Sonny and Cher years. And even then, if he was acting as a singer he was one terrible actor.

I don't understand the low ratings for Sonny Bono. He was a very effective legislator during his short tenure. He was able to pass the he controversial Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act during his tenure and was working to restore the Salton Sea. I guess the raters feel his actor's persona was his politician's persona. He was also very effective as mayor of Palm Springs. Lots of actors, probably the vast majority, are morons, but some aren't. Judge them on their accomplishments.

IMO, NEARLY tied at the bottom of this particular barrel with Cooter and Gopher. Sonny and Cher blew- both musically and the show...There are only 2 noteworthy things in his career, and no, the movie "Troll" wasn't one of them. He wrote "Needles and Pins" which is a good tune The Searchers had a big hit with. The other was he had a horrible song on his own called "Laugh At Me," a 'quasi- protest' tune about not getting into a fancy restaurant due to improper attire. The song BLOWS, but somehow, somehow Mott the Hoople did an excellent version of it, Mott was always able to turn absolute dung like this and a Melanie tune into gold with their covers, don't ask me how.

About as good a politician as he was a skier.

He was also very heavy into Scientology. Not the brightest bulb on the shelf.

Debatable whether he ever really qualified as actor, singer, or politician. Better remembered as "Mr. Cher."

Usually remembered as Cher's singing partner but he also was an actor who appeared in a good number of TV shows, TV movies, and most notably in the Hollywood movies "Airplane II:The Sequel" and "Hairspray."