You already know that Dennis Franz is a good actor, but here's how good: In person, Franz, who plays the imposing Andrew Sipowicz on ABC's "NYPD Blue," seems so much smaller, so much less imposing than his character.
Sipowicz leads with his belly, filling the room with his presence.Franz just seems like another plump, pleasant, balding, 49-year-old guy. There is nothing imposing about him.
That's how good Dennis Franz is, and why it will be a crime if any other actor wins the Emmy for best performance in a dramatic series.
How does he do it? "You know when you read a book, how you visualize the characters? That's what I do when I read the scripts," he said. Of course, there's a little more to it than that, otherwise Tom Arnold would have a man-tel-ful of Emmys.
In its first season, "NYPD Blue" has established itself as the best drama on television, proving that co-creator Stephen Bochco ("L.A. Law," "Hill Street Blues") can still make magic.
And much of the credit has to go to Franz, who has cleaned up the loser-alcoholic Detective Sipowicz and made him slightly respectable. "When the series opened, my guy was near the bottom of the slide. He had to reach bottom, and he did. It almost cost him his life. And he's been trying to rebuild."
Tuesday night, though, in the first new episode in weeks, Si-po-wicz backslides, getting drunk at a party for his girlfriend Sylvia's parents. It was inevitable, Franz said in a recent interview.
It's more "realistic," he said. "To expect someone to do it themselves the first time after being so far gone as Sipowicz was - to pull himself out of it entirely - is not being very realistic. And dramatically, I think it would be more interesting for the character."
The character of Sipowicz is not that far removed from Detective Norman Buntz, which Franz played on "Hill Street Blues" from 1985 to 1987. Franz originally appeared on the show as bad-apple Detective Sal Benedetto, who was killed. Franz was so good that Bochco simply brought him back and changed his character's name, and Buntz became a central character in a series that had already seen its best moments.
Playing so many cops - often as guest-stars in series like "Matlock" or "Hunter" - has typecast Franz, but he isn't complaining. He said he often gets letters from police officers. "They're usually complimentary and flattering," he said. Plus, "I don't seem to have any trouble getting out of tickets."
As for "NYPD Blue," police officers "appreciate the humanity" the series shows. The show strives for accuracy, Franz said. A New York City detective named Bill Clark works on the show, "and he's constantly giving us information on correct police procedure, making sure we do things the right way. In fact, some of the storylines are from his experiences in the past.
"More than the rest of us," Franz said, police officers "realize the difficulty of their job, and the toll it takes on their personal lives. And they appreciate the way we've explored the human side of our characters."
And Franz is convinced there is more, much more, to Andy Si-po-wicz. "This is the deepest I've been able to dig into a character, and I still haven't reached the core of this guy. I pull back layer after layer, and there's still more to be found."
Likely providing creditable competition for Franz at Emmy time is co-star David Caruso, who plays redheaded Detective John Kelly. Caruso has gotten the lion's share of the publicity, which has anointed him the latest sex symbol. Franz isn't jealous - "I think it's wonderful for him, and I think it's wonderful for the series.
"And I hope it happens to every single person on the show, myself included."