Sunday, February 10, 2008

ROY SCHEIDER, 75

Died Sunday in Little Rock, Ark. He had multiple myeloma.

From The New York Times obit:
Mr. Scheider’s rangy figure, gaunt face and emotional openness made him particularly appealing in everyman roles, most famously as the agonized police chief of “Jaws,” Steven Spielberg’s 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 Fonda’s New York call girl; and in William Friedkin’s “French Connection” (also 1971), as Buddy Russo, the slightly more restrained partner to Gene Hackman’s marauding police detective, Popeye Doyle. That role earned Mr. Scheider the first of two Oscar nominations.
He was a history major and an Air Force veteran. And kick ass in "French Connection."

8 comments:

The Lorax said...

Hopefully... Hades didn't say "we're going to need a bigger boat" as he traveled down the Styx.

Rats. Roy Scheider wasn't half bad. Also did time on that ocean sci-fi SeaQuest... and Craven's Dracula movies II and III.

Anonymous said...

Clearly, this was not a surfing accident.

Anonymous said...

don't forget all that jazz...

The CDM said...

He must be in Hades if he died in Little Rock, although I could think of worse places. Surprised no one mentioned Blue Thunder.

He was good at what he did.

Anonymous said...

And "Marathon Man" with Dustin Hoffman. Love those dental drills.

Anonymous said...

Is it safe?

Anonymous said...

He had a heck of a chase scene in The Seven-Ups. Kind of a Wal-mart version of Steve McQueen.

Loved almost everything he did...

Anonymous said...

His best line is one I'd pass on to Hillary's campaign..."You're gonna need a bigger boat."