Dennis Franz

Actor

Name at birth: Dennis Franz Schlacta

Dennis Franz is an actor most closely associated with his television role as Detective Andy Sipowicz on the long-running ABC drama NYPD Blue (1993-2004). Franz has been a character actor in the movies and on TV since the late 1970s. Frequently cast as a cop, he became a TV star during the run of the police drama Hill Street Blues in the 1980s. Both Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue earned numerous Emmy nominations, and Franz himself has won four Emmys. His movies include Body Double (1984), Die Hard 2 (1990, starring Bruce Willis) and American Buffalo (1996, with Dustin Hoffman).

Extra credit: Dennis Franz (pronounced "fronz") has also done cartoon voice work, including for The Mighty Ducks (1996)... In the early episodes of Hill Street Blues, he played Sal Benedetto; that character was killed off and Franz returned to the show as Lt. Norman Buntz... Franz also starred in a Hill Street Blues spin-off series, Beverly Hills Buntz (1987).