DENNIS FRANZ Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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DENNIS FRANZ

Name: Dennis Franz                                                                     
Born: 28 October 1944 Chicago, Illinois                                                 
                                                                                       
Dennis Franz (born October 28, 1944) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning         
American actor known for his role as Andy Sipowicz, a gritty police detective in       
the television series NYPD Blue.                                                       
                                                                                       
Franz was born Dennis Franz Schlachta in Chicago, Illinois, the son of German           
immigrants Eleanor, a postal worker, and Franz Schlachta, who was a                     
baker and postal worker. Franz is a graduate of Proviso East High School (in           
Maywood, Illinois) and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. After                   
graduating college, Franz was drafted into the United States Army. He served           
eleven months in an airborne division in Vietnam.                                       
                                                                                       
Franz began his acting career at Chicago's famed Organic Theater Company.               
Although he has in the past performed Shakespeare, his "look" led to his being         
typecast early in his career as a police officer. (By Franz' own count, the             
character of Detective Andy Sipowicz was his 27th role as a police officer). He         
has also guest-starred in shows such as The A-Team. Other major roles were on           
the television series Hill Street Blues in which he played two characters over         
the run of that show: Sal Benedetto and Norm Buntz. He starred in the short-lived       
Beverly Hills Buntz as the morally-questionable Norman Buntz.                           
                                                                                       
Franz went on to win four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD       
Blue. The character of Sipowicz was ranked #23 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV               
Characters list.                                                                       
                                                                                       
He starred as "Earl", the abusive husband, in the Dixie Chicks' music video "Goodbye   
Earl". Franz gave an outstanding performance as Nathaniel Messinger, a man who         
once had been an angel in the 1998 film, City of Angels.