Dennis Franz Schlachta, known professionally as Dennis Franz, is an American retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series NYPD Blue, a role that earned him a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
19 Facts About Dennis Franz
2.
Dennis Franz portrayed two different characters on the similar NBC series Hill Street Blues and its short-lived spinoff, Beverly Hills Buntz.
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Dennis Franz is a 1962 graduate of Proviso East High School in Maywood.
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Dennis Franz attended Wilbur Wright College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating from the latter with a bachelor's degree in speech and theater in 1968.
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Dennis Franz served eleven months with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam.
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Dennis Franz began his acting career at Chicago's Organic Theater Company.
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Dennis Franz returned to the series in 1985 as main character Lt.
8.
Dennis Franz starred in the short-lived Beverly Hills Buntz as the same character.
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Dennis Franz appeared in three of Altman's films from this period, and five of De Palma's.
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Dennis Franz went on to win four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue.
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In 1996, while still on NYPD Blue, Dennis Franz appeared in the Disney cartoon Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series in which he provided the voice of Captain Klegghorn, the commanding officer and head of the Anaheim Police Department.
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On May 11,2001, Dennis Franz was a contestant on a celebrity edition of the hit television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winning $250,000 for his charity, the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance.
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Dennis Franz was a commercial spokesman for Nextel in the early 2000s.
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The concept was that Dennis Franz "refused" to do the commercials, saying they were not something he did.
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Dennis Franz starred as Earl, the abusive husband, in the Dixie Chicks' music video "Goodbye Earl", and a role in country star Sammy Kershaw's music video "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer", as airport police captain Carmine Lorenzo in the 1990 film Die Hard 2 and as Nathaniel Messinger in the 1998 film City of Angels.
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Dennis Franz has told the New York Post he would be interested in returning to acting if given the right opportunity.
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Dennis Franz spoke of wartime experiences and post-war trauma of veterans at a Memorial Day Concert in 2012.
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In 1995, Dennis Franz married Joanie Zeck; they met in 1982.
19.
Dennis Franz is the stepfather of Zeck's two daughters from her previous marriage.