Franz, Dennis (1944– )

US stage, film, and television actor. Franz has won international acclaim for his award-winning run in the US police show NYPD Blue (from 1993), in which he plays the surly cop Andy Sipowicz – the 28th police role he has played in a lengthy career, and one of several collaborations with writer-producer Steven Bochco.

Since NYPD Blue was first launched, Franz's character has developed into the lynchpin around which the rest of the characters rotate. Having for many years played a string of minor characters, in NYPD Blue Franz has found the platform to give full expression to his acting abilities. Franz won further plaudits for his performance opposite Dustin Hoffman in the film American Buffalo (1996), and also gave a finely judged performance as an angel-turned-mortal in City of Angels (1998).

A promising athlete at school, Franz discovered the stage by chance, attending a girlfriend's audition for The Crucible, only to be given a part himself. He studied speech and drama at the Southern Illinois University, before an 11-month tour of duty in the Vietnam War. Back in Chicago, his hometown, he joined the Organic Theatre, working with the likes of the US actor Joe Mantegna, with whom he developed the long-running play Bleacher Bums. In 1978 he broke into film acting, appearing in the US film director Robert Altman's The Wedding and the US film director Brian De Palma's The Fury. Further minor roles for both directors followed, as did numerous television appearances in such shows as Hill Street Blues, Chicago Story, and Bay City Blues.