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and badly dressed crime fighter. The 12-year run of NYPD Blue ended in
2005, and Franz now splits his time between Montecito and a 115-acre
retreat on the shores of Coeur d’Alene Lake, Idaho.
Although best known for his Sipowicz character, Franz – only son of
German immigrant Franz Schlata and his U.S.-born wife, Eleanor – has
had a distinguished movie career in films as diverse as “City of Angels,”
“Mighty Ducks,” “American Buffalo,” “Die Hard II”, “A Fine Mess,”
“Body Double,” “Blow Out,” “A Perfect Couple,” “A Wedding,” “The
Fury,” “Popeye” and others. He’s worked for Robert Altman, Brian De
Palma, Andy Davis, and other top-line directors.
What people may not know about this unassuming actor from the
Chicago suburbs, however, is that he has won more Emmys as Leading
Actor in a Drama Series – four – for the same series than
any
other
actor,
ever
. Dennis received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on
February 19, 1999.
SPORTS AND MUSIC
Throughout his teen years and high school Dennis’s passion was
sports, baseball in particular. He played Little League beginning at age
seven, was on the All-Star team, and played in Pony League. In high
school, he was catcher for his team at Proviso East in the Chicago suburb
of Maywood, Illinois.
He, however, also “loved music” and liked to sing. “When I was in
the choir,” Dennis recalls, “I sang ‘Oh Danny Boy’ solo at eighth-grade
graduation in this ridiculous high-pitched voice; my father was into the
‘Oomp Pah Pah,’ the strong stuff. I’m sure he was proud his son was up
there, but at the same time, I’m sure he was cringing that his son was up
there. He used to tell me, ‘Son, when you sing, sing
loud
. Let people hear
you,’ I know he meant: ‘Son, I wish you had a deeper voice,’ but that was
his way of communicating to me to let my presence be known.”
THE CRUCIBLE
The first play Dennis ever saw was a production of “The Diary Of
Anne Frank” in his junior year in high school. He went with an aspiring
actress he was dating, and “loved the experience.”
Later, she brought him along to an audition for “The Crucible.” “I sat
there listening to the boys auditioning,” he says, “and they had little shy
voices, quiet, sometimes high, and my father’s words rang out in my head:
‘If you’re gonna sing, sing
loud
.’”
Dennis raised his hand and asked if he could try. He got up “and
made sure everybody in the place heard me.” He was rewarded with one of
the leads in the play, surprising his girlfriend and himself.
Franz was hooked; he dropped out of the swim team and dove into
acting. “I loved the performing. I loved the interaction with the audience.
I loved immersing myself in someone else’s words. It was an entirely new
experience,” he says. He also quit the baseball and football teams.
He worried how his parents would take his newfound love for the
stage. “I don’t know,” Dennis muses, “if any parent – especially an un-
formally educated man, an immigrant from Germany who has to work
very hard to put three children through college – wants to hear ‘I want
to be an actor’ out of his only son. I don’t think those were words he was
looking forward to hearing.”
Fortunately, both his parents supported his decision, even though
nobody in his family had ever remotely been connected with the
entertainment industry.
COMEDY TONIGHT
Dennis won an award as Poison Eddie Schallenbach in the second
play he was involved in – “Mrs. McThing,” a comedy. “I’m sure it was
absurdly over the top,” he smiles, “but I remember getting laughs.
That
was audience response.”
Laughter was his way of gauging if the audience was with him, so he
sought out more comedy roles through college. “It wasn’t until later in
Profiles
Dennis played an appliance
salesman who believed
Elvis was inhabiting his
body (leading to marital
difficulties), in a guest
appearance on the Steven
Bochco-produced “Civil
Wars” that starred Mariel
Hemingway, Peter Onorati,
and Debi Mazar