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- ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW MOVIE
- ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW SERIES
- ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW TV
And once Bochco gave birth to his NYPD vision, Franz was a natural to carry the series.Īnd so we have Andy Sipowicz: lead cop in the borough’s 15th precinct. Norman Buntz - the very archetype of NYPD’s Sipowicz.
ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW SERIES
After Benedetto’s character was killed off, Bochco brought Franz back to the Hill Street series as Lt. Benedetto - a true television bad boy–allowed Franz to show Bochco and the rest of America the breadth of his immense talent. In LA, Franz’s career became the typical up and down ride, but he literally found himself as both an artist and a person when he hooked up with Steven Bochco and landed a role in Hill Street Blues as Sal Benedetto. His work on the stage brought high reviews, enabling him to cross paths with hall of fame directors like Robert Altman and Brian DePalma.Īfter securing spots in Altman’s A Wedding and DePalma’s The Fury, Franz moved to Los Angeles. After returning to the states from a tour of duty in Vietnam, Franz formed a traveling dinner theater in Chicago, focusing on performing the classics.
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Beyond mere characterizations, pieces of Sipowicz are intertwined with the day-to-day Dennis Franz: unable to disjoin these two separate faces, Franz allows them to blend, thus creating the unforgettable.Ī four time Emmy-award winner for his work on ABC’s NYPD Blue, Franz began his acting career in the early 1970s. Like all great thespians - like DeNiro’s Travis Bickle and Paul Newman’s Hud – Franz is part and parcel the blood of his characters. What has made Franz so good is that he’s one of those rare men who totes his demons with him to the stage and then acts them out of his skin. In the realm of network television, Dennis Franz is as good as it gets - an actor with wide range and a true sensitivity to his craft who can take dead words on a printed page and paint them into a perfect living face. If you’re only going to own a few DVDs, and if you enjoy gritty urban dramas, then these are the disks for you: The writing, direction and ensemble acting remain unparalleled. Pound for pound, Blue is simply the best network drama to emerge since Bochco’s other tour-de-force, Hill Street Blues (As “cop” dramas go, Blue ranks on par with Gunsmoke: Andy Sipowicz this updated version of quintessential American lawman Matt Dillon, while New York City provides the perfect example of what the roaring old West has morphed into). These DVDs capture the complete first and second seasons, as we re-immerse ourselves in the initial story lines that helped to build the series into the Emmy-winning machine it is has become. Fox Home Entertainment.Įxcepting The Sopranos, NYPD Blue is the best thing on television today.
ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW TV
23 on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters list.In 1994 Franz made a cameo appearance as himself in The Simpsons episode Homer Badman - when Homer is accused of sexually harassing a babysitter the case becomes tabloid fodder generating an exploitative Fox telemovie Homer S.: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber in which Franz portrays Homer.NYPD Blue & An Interview With Dennis Franz NYPD BLUE. DVD. Franz went on to win four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue.
ACTOR DENNIS FRANZ DOING NOW MOVIE
He starred in the short-lived Beverly Hills Buntz as the morally questionable Norman Buntz.Franz had a small but memorable role as a grouchy movie director in Body Double. Norm Buntz remaining until the show's end in 1987. Due to his popularity with fans he returned in 1985 as Lt. Franz first played the role of Detective Sal Benedetto a corrupt cop in the 1983 season who later kills himself. Other major roles were on the television series Hill Street Blues in which he played two characters over the run of the show. (By Franz's own count the character of Detective Andy Sipowicz was his 27th role as a police officer).He then guest-starred in shows such as The A-Team. Although he has in the past performed Shakespeare his look led to his being typecast early in his career as a police officer. Franz began his acting career at Chicago's Organic Theater Company.
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