Actor Roy Scheider dies at 75

UPI ^ | 10th February 2008 | UPI

[the scotsman]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Actor Roy Scheider, the star of such films as "Jaws" and "All That Jazz," died Sunday at 75 in Little Rock, Ark., his wife told The New York Times.

Scheider, who lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y., died of complications from a staph infection, Brenda Scheider told the newspaper. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma.

Scheider came to prominence in such '70s films as "Klute" and "The French Connection" -- for which he earned an Oscar nomination as Buddy Russo, the partner of police Detective Popeye Doyle, played by Gene Hackman.

Scheider may have been best known as the resort town police chief in the 1975 blockbuster "Jaws."

Scheider was born in 1932 in Orange, N.J. He earned a history degree from Franklin and Marshall College and then served three years in the U.S. Air Force

[DCPatriot]

Agreed. The other scene to immediately pops to mind is when Dryfuss crushed that paper cup. LOL

[LouAvul]

You can be a really good conservative and disagree with spending billions of dollars and lives on Iraq. It was a military option, among many. It ought not to be above or beyond disagreement. And to demonize and “hate” those who disagreed is juvenile at best.

It's reprehensible to protest the war while we have troops in combat areas. It's demoralizing, at best. Treason, at worst. Go back to DU with your disgusting rationalizations.

[I got the rope]

Sorry to hear that. I always thought he was a fine actor. Prayers for the family.

[SuziQ]

Roy was also in 2010 : sequel to 2001.

LOVED 2010, couldn't abide 2001.

[Cacique]

btt RIP

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

AT LAST!! After all these years, someone who agrees. I’ve said many times the only reason 2001 was such a hit was it came out during the drug era and people were seeing it over and over while stoned.

[The Ghost of Rudy McRomney]

And I’m not getting into his politics-he did serve, and he was a good actor, and that’s what the thread should be about.

[Loud Mime]

lol very clever!

[Loud Mime]

How does a person serve 3 years in the Air Force?

[moose2004]

I saw him once about 12 years ago at a grocery store in Bridgehampton, NY. I always heard he was a good guy. May he rest in peace.

[stevie_d_64]

This is true...

His career in film and the entertainment industry could be lauded, he was a good performer...

But his personal views and activism rates right up there with the folks we have a big problem with...

And that is certainly his and those folks perogative...I’m just not going to support those views...

[LouAvul]

And that is certainly his and those folks perogative

It wasn't merely his "opinion." We're all entitled to "opinion."

He turned it into an antiwar "action." That's inexcusable while we've got troops in a combat area.

And frankly, I find Freepers who defend his actions as disgusting as I find his protests.

[massgopguy]

I liked it. But I was 11 and there was a spaceship in it. Plus I built a model of the Pan Am shuttle in it.

[MSF BU]

Perhaps the enlistments at that time lasted three years? I don’t know. My point was that unlike some men in his generation, he had stones enough to serve and the paper recognized it. Two good things in my estimate.

[Ditto]

I went overboard off a fishing boat in Mexico June 1975............ all I could think about was Jaws.

Did you buddies call you 'Chum'?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Scheider was on the TV series ‘Third Watch’ as a charming, terrifyingly evil Russian crime boss for about 6 shows. He was great!

[unspun]

[OBXWanderer]

Scotsman, I happened to reside in Galveston in the late '80s, where a movie Night Games was filmed. Dumb movie, but Roy was pretty much the leading act. He lived in the San Luis while filming, and you could see him out on the seawall just about every day for his morning jog. When the filming was over, he bought a full page ad in the Galveston Daily News to thank the people of the town for their friendship, and for giving him some privacy. Pretty cool fellow. Sorry to hear about some of his late in life antics; and as mentioned in a few post, I sure didn't think he was in his mid seventies. RIP Roy, I remember that beer at three in the morning outside of your "on location" trailer. OBX

[M. Espinola]

~ Rest In Peace ~

[RWB Patriot]

Well damn, there goes another great actor from my childhood. RIP old friend.