Remember Dennis Franz? I do. He played Detective Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue for all 12 seasons. Back then, many actors had done other things before going into show business. And this added depth and richness to their portrayals.
For example, the Australian actor Robert Taylor began as a worker on an oil rig. So when he played Sheriff Longmire on the show of the same name, I believed him when he investigated a murder in an oil field.
As for Detective Sipowicz, he repeatedly showed his hatred for phony veterans. Franz was an Emmy-winning actor, but I was struck by the strength of his portrayal of these episodes. Now we know why. I take my hat off to Detective First Grade Andy Sipowicz, and to Dennis Franz as well.
———Dennis Franz—- served 11 months in Vietnam with 82nd and 101st Airborne.
—-“I was curious about military service and went into the Army. I regretted my curiosity about 2 weeks after I was in”——
Spec 4 Dennis Franz told TV Guide in a 2003 interview that his wartime service,
—-—“Was a very traumatic, life-changing experience. I experienced death over there, and losing friends. I got as close to being shot as I care to. I could feel and hear bullets whizzing over my head. That shak s you up quite a bit. When I came back, I didn’t know how to fit in. I was torn up and angry for a year.”