Tough-guy actor Roy Scheider, best known as police chief Martin Brody in Steven Speilberg's 1975 breakout picture Jaws, passed away last night at age 75, reportedly of complications from a staph infection.A New Jersey kid at heart, Scheider was a boxer in his youth and actually made his acting debut starring in the 1963 horror flick Curse of the Living Corpse. Supporting roles in 1971's Klute and The French Connection made him a star, but he'll always be known for his part alongside Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss in Speilberg's monster shark film, in which he uttered the immortal line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." He earned an Oscar nomination for his lead performance in All That Jazz (1979).
Genre fans will also remember him for taking over the role of Heywood Floyd in 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the 1984 sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey; for his starring turn in the troubled 1990s sci-fi series SeaQuest DSV; and most recently for playing Frank Castle's father in The Punisher (2004).
Farewell and adieu to ye fair Spanish ladies,
Farewell and adieu, ye ladies of Spain.
For we've received orders to sail back to Boston,
And so nevermore shall we see you again.
Total bummer... one film of his that alot of people overlook for some reason is John Frankenheimer's 52 Pick-Up ('86) based on a great Elmore Leonard novel. I've probably watched it more times than JAWS. Amazing performances.
ReplyDeletebummer
ReplyDeleteActually, they were doing a tribute to him on the radio this morning, and one of the guys mentioned the very same thing.
ReplyDeleteThose staph infections can be nasty, I've had a few.
ReplyDeleteBut sad news anyway, almost makes me want to watch Jaws again.
He had also recovered from a battle with cancer, so he may have already been in a weakened state.
ReplyDeleteDreyfuss is now the only member of the crew left...
i saw that too, that was sad. i liked him in the one with that helicopter, was it "blue thunder"?
ReplyDeleteBlue Thunder it was.
ReplyDeleteA nice tribute B-Sol, well done and I love that little song that they sung in the movie, also later used in Master and Commander and no doubt many others.
ReplyDeleteJaws was two weeks ago and me and my husband pretty much shamed my girlfriend into watching it, she is a non-gore, non-horror fan, yet we seemed to have fun all the same.
RIP Roy.
I do believe the little ditty originally comes from Moby Dick, which was one of the inspirations for Jaws.
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