A Reel Legend: Roy Scheider

A Reel Legend tells the stories of cinematic icons who are no longer with us. The actors, actresses, and directors who have shaped the silver screen as we know it today. 

 

This month’s Reel Legend is Roy Scheider. 

 

Born Roy Richard Scheider in 1932 in Orange, New Jersey, Scheider studied drama at Rutgers University, and after serving in the U.S. Air Force and a short career as a boxer, he had his first film role in the 1964 horror flick, THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE. In 1971, he appeared in two popular films: KLUTE alongside Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, and one of his most famous films, THE FRENCH CONNECTION opposite Gene Hackman. THE FRENCH CONNECTION would win Best Picture that year, and earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 

 

In 1975, he had his most famous and beloved role, that of Chief Brody in Steven Spielberg’s JAWS. Scheider’s add-libbed line of “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” would become one of the famous lines in cinema history. He would reprise the role in the 1978 sequel. In 1979 he would earn another Oscar nomination, this time for his role as an alcoholic choreographer in ALL THAT JAZZ. 

 

Other notable roles would include THE SEVEN-UPS (1973), MARATHON MAN (1976), SORCERER (1977), STILL OF THE NIGHT (1982), BLUE THUNDER (1983), 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT (1984), THE RAINMAKER (1997), and THE PUNISHER (2004). 

 

He would have a second career on television, including the Spielberg-produced series SEAQUEST DSV. Overall, his career would earn him two Oscar nominations, one Golden Globe, and one BAFTA Award. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 75. 

 

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The name of Roy Scheider has become intertwined with JAWS over the last 51 years, and rightfully so, but the flip side to that is his role as Chief Brody, and his electric chemistry with co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton…often overshadows the rest of his excellent film career. From his passionate choreographer in ALL THAT JAZZ to a troubled detective in THE FRENCH CONNECTION, he brought a quiet vulnerability and depth to even the most straightforward characters. 

 

And that vulnerability brings us back to JAWS. His part as the police chief in a summer town held hostage by a killer shark came at a time when the Hollywood tough guy was deemed invincible. It was a time when movie stars like John Wayne famously never lost a cinematic fist-fight, lest they look weak to audiences. But Scheider’s Brody turned all that around. His police chief was a flawed guy who answered the wrong phone, spilled a vase of paint brushes, and most importantly…had a child-like fear of the water. Hardly invincible, but lived-in and human. With that, he blazed a trail for future screen heroes into the modern era; from Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes to John McClaine fighting terrorists barefoot. Scheider changed the game, because that’s what Legends do.