Love & Passion Quote by Dennis Franz

Dennis Franz punctures celebrity mythology with the kind of self-deprecation that only works because it’s half-true and fully weaponized. The line opens with a shrugging concession - “For lack of a better term” - that treats “sex symbol” less like an honorific than a marketing label slapped onto a person. That phrasing matters: it suggests the category is flimsy, the language is lazy, and the culture doing the labeling is more interested in a digestible archetype than the messy reality of a middle-aged character actor.

Then comes the twist: he accepts the compliment while sabotaging its premise. By describing himself as “bald” and “overweight,” Franz foregrounds the very traits entertainment traditionally codes as unglamorous, making the “sex symbol” tag feel absurd in the best way. The joke isn’t just “look at me”; it’s “look at your standards.” It exposes how desire on screen is often less about bodies matching a template and more about charisma, authority, competence, and narrative power - the things his most famous roles traded in.

“It should happen to every bald, overweight guy” is the sly kicker. On the surface it’s generosity, an egalitarian blessing. Underneath, it’s a critique of scarcity: Hollywood hands out erotic legitimacy to a narrow few, then pretends it’s natural law. Franz is pointing to a cultural glitch where ordinary-looking men can still be granted sexual centrality, but usually only when framed by status, swagger, or institutional power. He’s grateful, sure. He’s also telling you the whole machine is a little ridiculous.