Franc Luz

Franc Luz is an American actor of stage, film, and television, born on December 22, 1950, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of Portuguese and Irish descent. He attended New Mexico State University, where he studied both singing and theater arts with the goal of pursuing a professional career in show business. Following graduation, Luz built experience through local and regional theater productions before making his way to New York City.

His early New York stage work included the role of policeman Floyd in Fiorello at the Equity Liberty Theater. In 1979, he appeared on Broadway in the period musical Whoopee!, playing Wanenis. That same year, he was cast in a supporting role in the film Voices, marking his screen debut. Shortly after, Luz won the role of Dr. John Bennett on NBC's daytime serial The Doctors, a part that earned him a 1980 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He remained with the series until 1981. During this period, he also appeared as a celebrity panelist on the NBC daytime version of The Hollywood Squares during soap opera week in December 1979, sharing a segment with his Doctors co-star Nancy Pinkerton.

After departing The Doctors, Luz returned to the stage and became a regular presence in the original off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, playing the sadistic dentist. The role earned him a 1983 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. His vocal performance was later included on the 1992 CD release of the Little Shop of Horrors Original Off-Broadway Cast soundtrack, alongside the voices of Lee Wilkof, Jennifer Leigh Warren, and others.

Luz continued working in daytime television through the mid-1980s, playing Tommy Lobo on One Life to Live in 1983 and Steve Latham on Ryan's Hope in 1984. The latter role involved a story arc in which his character held Delia Reid Ryan Coleridge captive and whose affair with her indirectly led to Matthew Crane accusing Delia of attempted murder. In a 1985 interview, Luz noted that the role was particularly satisfying because it allowed him to portray a sinister character, a departure from the more passive figures he had played on The Doctors and One Life to Live.

In 1985, Luz joined the cast of the CBS primetime dramedy Hometown, a television adaptation of the 1983 film The Big Chill, playing the husband of Jane Kaczmarek opposite co-star Daniel Stern. The series was cancelled after two months. The following season, he appeared in a recurring role on the CBS medical drama Kay O'Brien, playing the ex-boyfriend of Patricia Kalember's character, though that series was also cancelled after two months. Guest appearances in 1987 included a role on Hunter as Dee Dee McCall's deceased police sergeant husband, seen in flashbacks, and a turn on The Facts of Life as Professor Richard Katt.

Luz took on two leading roles in horror films released in 1988. In The Nest, he played a scientist leading a team against man-eating cockroaches, and in Ghost Town, he portrayed a deputy defending a Western town from supernatural forces. In 1989, he guest starred as artist Kristopher Gentian in the Beauty and the Beast episode "When the Bluebird Sings" and played Julian in Rob Reiner's romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally. That same year, he co-starred in the ABC comedy Free Spirit as Thomas J. Harper, a widowed lawyer with three children who unknowingly hires a witch as a housekeeper. His daughter on the series was played by Alyson Hannigan. The show was cancelled mid-season.

From 1991 to 1992, Luz appeared on Broadway in Larry Gelbart's City of Angels, alongside Richard Kline and Michael Rupert, extending his Broadway career through a decade that began with Whoopee! in 1979. He is also recognized by Star Trek fans for portraying the host of the symbiont Odan in "The Host," the 23rd episode of the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired in 1991. In 1993, he played Seth Tanner on All My Children, and in 1995 he appeared as Don Antonio in Jeremy Leven's Don Juan DeMarco, which starred Johnny Depp in the title role. His 1990s television guest appearances included roles on Sisters, L.A. Law, The Young Riders, Silk Stalkings, and Walker, Texas Ranger, where he played a cult leader. In 1999, he appeared in the independent films The Pornographer and Restraining Order, the latter co-starring Eric Roberts.

Following his retirement from acting in 1999, Luz became involved with museums and exhibition halls in the New York area, serving as a trustee for several institutions and working as a tour guide.