Dennis Franz

Dennis Franz
Franz in 2008
Born	Dennis Franz Schlachta (1944-10-28) October 28, 1944 Maywood, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	Wilbur Wright College Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–2005
Spouse	Joanie Zeck ​ (m. 1995)​

Dennis Franz Schlachta (/frɑːnz/; 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 spinoff, Beverly Hills Buntz (1987–1988).

Early life

Franz was born October 28, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois, the son of German immigrants Eleanor (née 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 1938).

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 Vietnam.

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 at a rehearsal for the 1994 Emmy Awards

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 has told 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
1978	The Fury	Bob Eggleston
1978	Towing	Bar Patron	Uncredited
1978	A Wedding	Koons
1978	Stony Island	Jerry Domino
1979	A Perfect Couple	Costa
1980	Dressed to Kill	Detective Marino
1980	Popeye	Spike
1981	Blow Out	Manny Karp
1983	Psycho II	Warren Toomey
1983	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	Chicago Story	Officer Joe Gilland	13 episodes
1983	Hill Street Blues	Det. Sal Benedetto	5 episodes
1983	Bay City Blues	Angelo Carbone	8 episodes
1984	Hardcastle and McCormick	Tony Boutros	Episode: "Did You See the One That Got Away?"
1984	The A-Team	Sam Friendly	Episode: "Chopping Spree"
1984	Riptide	Earl Bertrane	Episode: "Double Your Pleasure"
1984	E/R	The Boyfriend	Episode: "The Sister"
1984	T. J. Hooker	Andros Margolis	Episode: "Hardcore Connection"
1985–1987	Hill Street Blues	Lt. Norman Buntz	44 episodes
1985	Simon & Simon	Frank Mahoney	Episode: "Almost Foolproof"
1985	The A-Team	Brooks	Episode: "Beverly Hills Assault"
1985	Hardcastle and McCormick	Joe Hayes	Episode: "There Goes the Neighborhood"
1985	MacGruder and Loud	Roche	Episode: "On the Wire"
1985	Hunter	Sgt. Jackie Molinas	2 episodes
1985	Street Hawk	Inspector Frank Menlo	Episode: "Female of the Species"
1985	Scene of the Crime	Pat Grandy	Episode: "A Vote for Murder"
1985	Deadly Messages	Detective Max Lucas	Television movie
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
1989	Matlock	Jack Brennert	2 episodes
1989	Christine Cromwell	Detective Grainger	Episode: "Easy Come, Easy Go"
1989	Nasty Boys	Lt. Stan Krieger	12 episodes
1989	Nasty Boys, Part 2: Lone Justice	Lt. Stan Krieger	Television movie
1991	NYPD Mounted	Tony Spampatta	Unsold TV pilot
1991	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"
1994	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

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Dennis Franz

External links

• Dennis Franz at IMDb
• Dennis Franz at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television