Roy Scheider dies at age 75

I was very surprised and saddened to learn this evening that Actor Roy Scheider had passed away. He'd suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection. He was 75.

The two characters I will forever link him with are of course Chief Martin Brody in "Jaws" and chopper pilot Officer Frank Murphy in "Blue Thunder".

He first came into the public's consciousness in 1972's "The French Connection" alongside Gene Hackman. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Two years later he would hold his own in the lead role of "The Seven-Ups". Just a flat out cool and gritty role. The one that would garner Steven Spielberg's attention to cast him in the role that he would forever be connected with...speaking the line that would be become one of the most remembered movie lines of all time; "You're gonna need a bigger boat".

"Marathon Man" and "All That Jazz", another major career high and Oscar nomination, would follow. The mid 80's brought the release of "Blue Thunder" and "2010", the "2001" sequel I'll also associate Scheider the most with. By the 90's Roy was trying his hand at television with the undersea adventure series "SeaQuest DSV" and later "Third Watch", continuing his film career at the same time.

My favorite moment with Scheider in "Blue Thunder" is when he's in the cockpit of The Special after just having listened to the final recording of Officer "JAFO" Lymangood (Daniel Stearn). A mechanic bangs on the window telling Scheider's character, Murphy, that he's not suppose to be in there. Murphy whips out his gun, points it at the guy's face, and says "you talking to me, asshole?". The mechanic runs.

Another favorite moment is from "Jaws", where Scheider, as Chief Brody, is sitting at the dinner table beginning to notice that his son is mimicing his every gesture. Brody's final move is to grit his teeth like a grizzly bear, to which the child mimic back in a tiny grimus version of his father. Brody leans down and asks the boy for a kiss. When the child asks why, Brody responds in a hushed tone, "cause I need it".

Here's a little tidbit I never knew about Scheider's career. He turned down the role of Michael Vronsky in Michael Cimino’s Vietnam drama "The Deer Hunter", believing the script was implausible in that someone would never travel halfway around the globe to rescue a friend. Robert DeNiro ended up with the part. Apparently Universal was so angry about his stance (he reneged on his contract) that they strong-armed him to appear in "Jaws 2".

I feel sometimes like I grew up with Roy Scheider. Kind of in the same way I grew up with Mark Hamill, John Travolta, and Christopher Reeve. He was one of the icons of sitting in a darkened movie theater and letting the magic unfold. Sometime this week I'll sit down to watch "Jaws" once more. Not only in remembrance of Roy Scheider, but also remembering what it was like when I was younger, watching the 'everyman' police chief trying to survive the worst summer of his life, for the first time.

Here are the LA Times and New York Times articles on his passing.