Dennis Franz

Dennis Franz Schlachta (; born October 28, 1944), known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series NYPD Blue (1993–2005), a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He also portrayed two different characters on the similar NBC series Hill Street Blues (1983, 1985–1987) and its short-lived spin-off, Beverly Hills Buntz (1987–1988).

Early life Franz was born October 28, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois, the son of German immigrants Eleanor ( Mueller), a postal worker from an Ashkenazi Jewish family, and Franz Ferdinand Schlachta, who was a baker and postal worker of German and Polish descent. He has two older sisters, Heidi Deigl (born 1935) and Marlene Schraut (born 1937).

Franz is a 1962 graduate of Proviso East High School in Maywood. During his high school years, he was active in baseball, football and swimming. He attended Wilbur Wright College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating from the latter with a bachelor's degree in speech and theater in 1968.

After graduating from college, Franz was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served eleven months with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division in the Vietnam War.

Career

Franz began his acting career at Chicago's Organic Theater Company. Although he has in the past performed Shakespeare, his physical appearance led to his being typecast early in his career as a cop. (By Franz's own count, the character of Andy Sipowicz was his 28th role as a police officer.) He also guest starred in shows such as The A-Team and Hunter. Other major roles were on the television series Hill Street Blues in which he played two characters over the run of the show. Franz first played the role of the corrupt Detective Sal Benedetto in the 1982–1983 season. Benedetto eventually commits suicide when a large-scale scam he was running fails. Franz returned to the series in 1985 as main character Lt. Norman Buntz, remaining until the show's end in 1987. He also starred in the short-lived Beverly Hills Buntz as the same character.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Franz worked regularly with directors Brian De Palma and Robert Altman. He appeared in three of Altman's films from this period, and five of De Palma's. In addition, he appeared as airport police captain Carmine Lorenzo in the 1990 film Die Hard 2. His final film role to date was as Nathaniel Messinger in the 1998 film City of Angels.

Franz went on to win four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue from 1993 to 2005. The character of Sipowicz was ranked No. 23 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters list. In 1994, while still on NYPD Blue, Franz made a cameo voice appearance as himself in The Simpsons episode "Homer Badman", in which Homer is accused of sexually harassing a babysitter and the case becomes tabloid fodder, generating an exploitative television movie, Homer S.: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber, in which Franz portrays Homer. Franz also voiced Captain Klegghorn, the commanding officer and head of the Anaheim Police Department on the Disney cartoon Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, which ran from September 1996 to January 1997.

In 2000, Franz starred as Earl, an abusive husband, in the Dixie Chicks' music video "Goodbye Earl". The next year he competed on the May 11 celebrity edition of the hit television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winning $250,000 for his charity, the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. As a commercial spokesman for Nextel in the early 2000s, Franz appeared as a caricature of himself in commercials, "refusing" to do the commercials, saying they were not something he did.

Post-NYPD Blue After the end of the show in 2005, Franz retired from acting to focus on his private life. He mentioned in a 2015 interview with the New York Post that he would be interested in returning to acting if given the right opportunity. He and his wife spend their summers in their lake home in Northern Idaho. He spoke of wartime experiences and postwar trauma of veterans at a Memorial Day concert in 2012 (speaking in the first person, although it was not his own story). He and his former NYPD Blue co-star, Jimmy Smits, made a surprise appearance at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, presenting the award for Outstanding Drama Series to Game of Thrones.

Personal life In 1995, Franz married Joanie Zeck; they met in 1982. He is the stepfather of Zeck's two daughters from her previous marriage.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1965 Mickey One Minor Role in Dressing Room Uncredited 1978 Remember My Name Franks The Fury Bob Eggleston Towing Bar Patron Uncredited A Wedding Koons Stony Island Jerry Domino 1979 A Perfect Couple Costa 1980 Dressed to Kill Detective Marino Popeye Spike 1981 Blow Out Manny Karp 1983 Psycho II Warren Toomey Scarface Immigration Officer Voice, uncredited 1984 Body Double Rubin 1985 Runaway Train Cop Uncredited 1986 A Fine Mess Phil 1989 The Package Lt. Milan Delich 1990 Die Hard 2 Captain Carmine Lorenzo 1991 The Sid Story Sid Video short 1992 The Player Himself 1996 American Buffalo Don Dubrow 1997 Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off Captain Klegghorn Voice 1998 City of Angels Nathaniel Messinger

Television Year Title Role Notes 1979 Bleacher Bums Zig Television movie 1980 Chicago Story Officer Joe Gilland Television movie 1982 13 episodes 1983 Hill Street Blues Det. Sal Benedetto 5 episodes Bay City Blues Angelo Carbone 8 episodes 1984 Hardcastle and McCormick Tony Boutros Episode: "Did You See the One That Got Away?" The A-Team Sam Friendly Episode: "Chopping Spree" Riptide Earl Bertrane Episode: "Double Your Pleasure" E/R The Boyfriend Episode: "The Sister" T. J. Hooker Andros Margolis Episode: "Hardcore Connection" 1985 Simon & Simon Frank Mahoney Episode: "Almost Foolproof" The A-Team Brooks Episode: "Beverly Hills Assault" Hardcastle and McCormick Joe Hayes Episode: "There Goes the Neighborhood" MacGruder and Loud Roche Episode: "On the Wire" Hunter Sgt. Jackie Molinas 2 episodes Street Hawk Inspector Frank Menlo Episode: "Female of the Species" Scene of the Crime Pat Grandy Episode: "A Vote for Murder" Deadly Messages Detective Max Lucas Television movie 1985–1987 Hill Street Blues Lt. Norman Buntz 44 episodes 1987 Tales from the Hollywood Hills Louie Television movie 1987–1988 Beverly Hills Buntz Norman Buntz 13 episodes 1989 Kiss Shot Max Fleischer Television movie Matlock Jack Brennert 2 episodes Christine Cromwell Detective Grainger Episode: "Easy Come, Easy Go" Nasty Boys Lt. Stan Krieger 12 episodes Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice Television movie 1991 NYPD Mounted Tony Spampatta Unsold TV pilot Civil Wars Murray Seidelman Episode: "Pilot" 1992 In the Line of Duty: Siege at Marion Bob Bryant Television movie 1993–2005 NYPD Blue Detective/Sergeant Andy Sipowicz 261 episodes 1994 The Simpsons Himself playing Homer Simpson Voice, Episode: "Homer Badman" Moment of Truth: Caught in the Crossfire Gus Payne Television movie 1995 Texas Justice Richard Haynes Television movie 1996 Healing the Hate Host Television movie 1996–1997 Mighty Ducks Captain Klegghorn Voice, 17 episodes 1998 Sesame Street Himself Episode: "Monster Day"

Awards and nominations