Dennis Franz
- Original name:
- Dennis Schlachta
- Also Known As:
- Dennis Schlachta
Dennis Franz (born October 28, 1944, Maywood, Illinois, U.S.) is an American actor best known for his portrayals of police officers, most notably on the television series NYPD Blue (1993–2005).
Franz was active in drama first in high school and then at junior college and at Southern Illinois University before he enlisted in the army and was sent to Vietnam. Returning to the stage after his discharge in 1970, Franz was invited to join Chicago’s Organic Theatre Company. There he appeared in Bleacher Bums (1978), which focused on a group of fans at a Chicago Cubs baseball game. Film director Brian De Palma saw Franz perform in an Organic production of Cops and invited him to appear in his film The Fury (1978). Other thrillers followed, including Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), and Psycho II (1983).
After portraying a police officer in a television series called Chicago Story (1982), Franz landed a guest-starring role on the hit police drama Hill Street Blues, playing the role of corrupt detective Sal Benedetto during the 1982–83 season. When that character was killed, Steven Bochco, creator of Hill Street Blues, cast Franz in a new project, Bay City Blues, a short-lived series about a minor-league baseball team. Franz returned to Hill Street Blues for the 1985–86 season as a regular member of the ensemble, playing Lieut. Norman Buntz.
After Hill Street Blues left the air in 1987, Franz was cast in similar roles in such unsuccessful series as Beverly Hills Buntz, Nasty Boys, and NYPD Mounted. He had minor roles in the films Die Hard 2 (1990) and The Player (1992) and appeared in several television movies before Bochco offered him a starring role as detective Andy Sipowicz in NYPD Blue. The program, which debuted in September 1993, was controversial because of its graphic depictions of violence and sex but was nonetheless well received by critics and viewers. Franz used his size and tough-guy Chicago accent to create a commanding on-screen presence, and he won a Golden Globe (1995) and four Emmy Awards (1994, 1996, 1997, 1999) before NYPD Blue went off the air in 2005.