Dennis Franz, the star of the long-running and highly acclaimed “NYPD Blue” and a supporting actor on “Hill Street Blues,” turned 81 years old on October 28, 2025.
He has had a long and interesting career in Hollywood in film and TV. Before he made his way into Tinseltown, Franz served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam. He served with noteworthy units such as the 82nd Airborne and 101st Airborne and served 11 months in the country. Franz served in reconnaissance during the war and suffered from depression after his service.
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He described combat as “… a traumatic, life-changing experience, particularly when losing friends.” He was in multiple firefights and sometimes did not know where the bullets came from.
“Having gone through it, having lived through it, it changed my outlook on life,” Franz said on “The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder” in 1996.
“You just want to be out of the situation. And involuntarily, your body just starts doing things that you don’t have control over, just out of fear and nerves, and you just wish you could be any other place in the world except where you are at that moment. And the only way to get out of it is to shoot back and make somebody stop and let me get out of it.”
Franz said serving during the Vietnam War changed his life. It made him more mature.
“It made me take things a lot more seriously,” Franz said. “I was very frivolous and irresponsible up until the point that I went there, and it made me look at life a lot more seriously than before.”
Kissing the Ground
Forever appreciative of his wartime experience, Franz was happy to return home to the United States after his service. He was so happy, in fact, that he kissed the ground. Upon coming home from Vietnam, Franz began acting in Chicago at the Organic Theater Company.
Franz is a trained Shakespearean actor; however, he got his best and most well-known roles as authority figures, usually cops. His big break came as Det. Sal Benedetto in “Hill Street Blues.” His character was corrupt and died by suicide during the 1982-1983 television season when a scam of which he was in charge faltered.
Franz returned to “Hill Street Blues” in 1985 as Lt. Norman Buntz and stayed on the show until 1987, its final season. His character got his spinoff in a beautiful locale with “Beverly Hills Buntz.” It lasted one season.
Franz’s career includes having worked on many feature films with high-level directors. These include roles in Brian De Palma films such as “The Fury,” “Dressed to Kill,” “Blow Out,” “Scarface,” and “Body Double.” Franz also appeared in Robert Altman films, including “A Wedding,” “A Perfect Couple,” and “Popeye.”
Franz’s other feature-film roles included “Die Hard 2,” “Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off,” and “City of Angels.” He initially played an antagonist to Bruce Willis’ John McClane and eventually helped McClane defeat the terrorists in “Die Hard 2.”
Franz starred on “NYPD Blue” from 1993 to 2005, during which he was awarded a Golden Globe, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Primetime Emmys. He is now retired and spends time with his wife and family.
