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Dennis Franz

Few actors have worn a badge on screen as often as Dennis Franz. By his own count, Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue was his 28th role as a police officer, the culmination of a career shaped by tough, complicated authority figures rather than straightforward heroes. Born on October 28, 1944, in Maywood, Illinois, Franz studied speech and theater at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating in 1968. After college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division. His acting career began back in Chicago at the Organic Theater Company. Although he had performed Shakespeare, Franz found that his appearance led to early typecasting as a cop—a limitation he ultimately turned into a remarkably durable specialty. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Franz worked regularly with Robert Altman and Brian De Palma, appearing in three Altman films and five directed by De Palma. Television gave him some of his most substantial parts. On Hill Street Blues, he first played corrupt detective Sal Benedetto, then returned to the series as Lt. Norman Buntz, a character he carried into the short-lived Beverly Hills Buntz. Movie audiences may also know Franz as airport police captain Carmine Lorenzo in Die Hard 2. His final film role to date was Nathaniel Messinger in 1998’s City of Angels. Franz’s defining performance arrived with NYPD Blue, where he played Andy Sipowicz from 1993 to 2005. The role earned him four Emmy Awards and demonstrated how much mileage he could find inside a familiar professional type. After the series ended, Franz retired from acting to focus on his private life, though he said in 2015 that the right opportunity could tempt him back. His career remains a striking example of an actor taking typecasting and giving it depth, variation and staying power.