Summer jobs for ''NYPD Blue'' cast

What a difference a year makes. Most of NYPD Blue‘s cast were unknowns last summer, but now they’re hot properties. David Caruso has signed a $1 million-plus deal for his first big-screen leading role, as an ex-con opposite Helen Hunt and Nicolas Cage in a remake of the 1947 film noir classic Kiss of Death. Sherry Stringfield, who played Caruso’s ex-wife on Blue, has left the show for a bigger part in NBC’s new hospital drama, E.R. We checked in with some of NYPD‘s other cast members to find out how they’ll be spending their summer vacations until the show returns in mid-October.

Dennis Franz (Det. Andy Sipowicz) will star in the ABC miniseries Texas Justice with Heather Locklear, and in the NBC movie Moment of Truth: Caught in the Crossfire. As for personal plans, Franz says, “Joanie [Zeck], my lady, wants to go to Northern Italy. But since my first hiatus on Hill Street, my family has always gone up to a lake in Wisconsin.”

Amy Brenneman (Officer Janice Licalsi) will play an angel in Casper and a woman caught between Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser in Bye, Bye Love. “I won’t be working just to work. They’re both lovely parts,” she says.

Nicholas Turturro (Det. James Martinez) will star as Pancho Villa in Pancho, Billy, and Esmerelda. “I have to learn how to ride a horse,” he says. “I’ve never done that before. I’m from Queens.”

James McDaniel (Lieut. Arthur Fancy) will be performing at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. “Every four days you get a new play. It’s the hippest place on the planet,” he says.

Gail O’Grady (Donna Abandando) is waiting to hear if she’s landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s new movie, Casino. She says she’s still searching for a vacation spot. “I have to find a place that will let me take my Maltese, my poodle, and my shih tzu.”