Roy Scheider aka Chief Brodey of Jaws has Died

Hollywood has lost another star. This time it’s Roy Scheider, who was 75. Scheider was possibly best known for his role as Cheif Brodey in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film, "Jaws ," the enduring classic about a killer shark terrorizing beachgoers as well as millions of moviegoers. Although “Jaws” frightened some moviegoers out of
the water for years, Scheider told the AP in 1986 that he considered his role somewhat comedic. “If you go back and look at the way it’s developed and built, that is really a funny character,” he said. “He’s a fumbler with all kinds of inhibitions and fears — that’s the way we built that
character.” In 2005, one of Scheider’s most famous lines in the movie — “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” — was voted No. 35 on the American Film Institute’s list of best quotes from U.S. movies.“Jaws ” was the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office. Scheider once said, “I’ve been fortunate to do what I consider three landmark films,” he told The Associated Press in 1986. “ ‘The French Connection’ spawned a whole era of the relationship between two policemen, based on an enormous amount of truth about working on the job. “ Jaws ’ was the first big, blockbuster outdoor-adventure film. And certainly ‘All That Jazz’ is not like any old MGM musical. Each one of these films is unique, and I consider myself fortunate to be associated with them.”

Born into a working class family in Orange, N.J., he was stricken with rheumatic fever at 6. He spent long periods in bed, becoming a voracious reader. Except for a slight heart murmur, he was pronounced cured at 17. He acquired the distinctive shape of his nose in an amateur boxing match. After three years in the Air Force, Scheider sought a New York theater career in 1960. His debut came a year later as Mercutio in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Romeo and Juliet.” He also played minor roles in such films as “Paper Lion” and “Stiletto.” Then he made a breakthrough in 1971 as Jane Fonda’s pimp in “Klute.”

“He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call ‘a knockaround actor,’ ” Richard Dreyfuss, who co-starred with Scheider and Robert Shaw in “Jaws ” said Sunday. “A ‘knockaround actor’ to me is a compliment that means a professional that lives the life of a professional actor and doesn’t yell and scream at the fates and does his job and does it as well as he can,” Dreyfuss said.

Scheider died Sunday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said.

The hospital did not release a cause of deat, but Scheider had been treated for multiple myeloma at the hospital’s Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy for the past two years.

I know for myself after seeing Jaws I'm still scared to go in the water. Yes, I know it was a fictional shark. Yes, I know it had theatrical effects, but even the music alone... boomp, boomp, boomp, boomp, I can hear it in my head .. (you know something bad is going to happen) ... the movie has had lasting effects. Which is why in my previous post about young suffer Bethanie Hamilton, who survived a shark attack and still surfs... I have go give her more than credit for "going back into the water!"