Roy Scheider, best know for having been cast as Police Chief Martin Brody in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was 75 years of age.

Although he was best know to my generation for his role in Jaws many will remember him as Det. Buddy Russo in The French Connection (1971), Doctor Benway in Naked Lunch (1991), a reoccurring role as Fyodor Chevchenko on "Third Watch" .... (2002) and to many he will always be remembered for his role as Joe Gideon from All That Jazz (1979).

Speaking about the making of Jaws Scheider once said that nobody working on the film knew that for years to come thousands of people would fear going into the ocean, or that it would be the first movie to earn over $100 million dollars.


"I thought we were making a very good action film, and I enjoyed the scenes with the two other actors [Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, who died of a heart attack in 1978]," Scheider said.

"I don't think anybody realized that it would make that much of an impact, simply because they didn't realize how everyone is so afraid of anything that's in the water, whether it's in the bathtub or a toilet or a lake, or whatever. They just don't like what happens down in the water."

According to the AP:

"Mr. Scheider died yesterday 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 death, but said Mr. Scheider had been treated for multiple melanoma."

Scheider is survived by his second wife Seimer, ; three children, including a daughter from his first marriage to Cynthia Bebout; a brother; and three grandchildren.

Rest in peace Chief Brody.....