Posted on 02/10/2008 6:00:57 PM PST by lunarbicep
Roy Scheider, a stage actor with a background in the classics who became one of the leading figures in the American film renaissance of the 1970s, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75 and lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
Mr. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Seimer, said.
Mr. Scheiders rangy figure, gaunt face and emotional openness made him particularly appealing in everyman roles, most famously as the agonized police chief of Jaws, Steven Spielbergs 1975 breakthrough hit, about a New England resort town haunted by the knowledge that a killer shark is preying on the local beaches.
Mr. Scheider conveyed an accelerated metabolism in movies like Klute (1971), his first major film role, in which he played a threatening pimp to Jane Fondas New York call girl; and in William Friedkins French Connection (also 1971), as Buddy Russo, the slightly more restrained partner to Gene Hackmans marauding police detective, Popeye Doyle. That role earned Mr. Scheider the first of two Oscar nominations.
Born in 1932 in Orange, N.J., Mr. Scheider earned his distinctive broken nose in the New Jersey Diamond Gloves Competition. He studied at Rutgers and at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where he graduated as a history major with the intention of going to law school. He served three years in the United States Air Force, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. When he was discharged, he returned to Franklin and Marshall to star in a production of Richard III.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Martin: Doesn't make any sense? You mean they pay a guy like you to watch sharks?
Hooper: Well, uh, it doesn't make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.
Martin: It's only an island if you look at it from the water.
Always enjoyed his work. RIP, Roy.
Orca, what was that 75, 77, 78?
‘77
I grew up watching scary movies from the 50s and 60s, some real classics made back then.
:)
You seen Air Jaws?
BAH!!!
Rest in Peace.
Always liked that guy.
Great movie, great actor! RIP!
Thanks for posting that scene. : )
I’d heard he died upon opening the door after hearing “Candygram”.
I finally got around to reading 3001.
I remember as a teen seeing him in "Marathon Man" and thinking, "Someday I'm gonna be that lean, that tan, that cool."
I never made it, but Roy made it look easy. He'll be missed.
Me either! I was just a lad of 26 when it came out.
the book was a different ending.....Dreyfuss dies in the book and Brody’s only thought swimming home is his wife slept w/ Dreyfuss and he is gonna get in her face about it
Same age as me——we’re droppin’ like flies!
Stay healthy. We need you.
It was up to Brody, and Roy Scheider to get the audience on their side. Roy played the part perfectly to allow the audience to identify with him, and by the time the boat left the marina, we were fully on that boat with him. The audience in the theaters stood up and cheered when he finally shot the air tank, which is an amazing tribute to how much Roy broke the plane of the screen and made us care.
Oh, snap!! Arkanacide!
Yep, the yeoman actor.
Seaquest was silly, greenie, leftest claptrap.
But Blue Thunder was just plan silly..... Cool shades tho.
RIP Roy, hope you got to make it past the Final Audition
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