Franz first made his mark in TV with a searing two-part guest spot on NBC's "Hill Street Blues" as the corrupt cop Sal Benedetto, for which TV Guide voted him "Villain of the Year." Impressed by his performance, producer Steven Bochco hired Franz for the short-lived baseball drama "Bay City Blues" (NBC, 1983-84). After that series struck out, Franz went back to the "Hill" as Lieutenant Norman Buntz and poured some welcome sand into the well-oiled ensemble during the series' final two seasons and recreated the character for the spin-off "Beverly Hills Buntz" (NBC, 1987-88). His next major TV job was co-starring in Bochco's controversial "R-rated" cop show, "NYPD Blue" (ABC, 1993-2005). As Andy Sipowicz, Franz played a volatile detective who has had to cope with a variety of problems and situations including a recovery from alcoholism, prostate cancer and the deaths of his wife, son and partner. Over the course of its long run, Franz has emerged as the heart of the series--as well as a surprising sex symbol--and his highly-regarded performances have netted him (to date) four Emmy Awards.
Franz has worked in a number of films directed by Robert Altman and Brian De Palma. Indeed it was at the urging of these two that he finally moved to L.A. after appearing in "A Wedding" and "The Fury" (both 1978). Franz went on to appear in Altman's "A Perfect Couple" (1979), "Popeye" (1980) and "The Player" (1992), and De Palma's "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Blow Out" (1981) and "Body Double" (1984). In the 90s, Franz underestimated the savvy of fellow cop Bruce Willis in the blockbuster sequel, "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (1990) and teamed with Dustin Hoffman for the screen version of David Mamet's "American Buffalo" (1996). Seeming as though he wanted to take a short break from the beat, Franz appeared as a hedonistic cherubim in the 1998 tearjerker "City of Angels", while 2000 saw him lampoon his sleazy image in a campy music video for the Dixie Chicks' monstrously popular song "Goodbye, Earl". Here Franz played the titular Earl, an abusive drunk whose wife kills him--more or less--in self-defense. Although Earl is dead for most of the peppy song, that didn't stop Franz from gamely dancing (as a rotting corpse) with the country cuties during the video's last scene.