Scheider, Roy 1932-2008

PERSONAL

Full name, Roy Richard Scheider; born November 10, 1932, in Orange, NJ; died of complications from multiple myeloma, February 10, 2008, in Little Rock, AR. Actor. Twice nominated for an Academy Award, Scheider was best known for his role as an earnest police chief trying to save his small New England town from a marauding shark in the 1975 blockbuster hit Jaws. A boxer and athlete as a young man, Scheider turned from sports toward the theatre and began taking acting classes in college. After serving three years in the U.S. Air Force, Scheider returned to acting, making his debut at the New York Shakespeare Festival and shortly thereafter winning an Obie Award for his performance in the play Stephen D. A string of small roles in films soon followed. In 1971 Scheider earned his first major film role, playing opposite Jane Fonda in Klute. That year he also starred with Gene Hackman as a police detective in the thriller The French Connection, a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination. Scheider followed this with his star-making performance in Jaws, after which he appeared in Marathon Man and Jaws II. In 1979 Scheider won further acclaim for his starring role as Joe Gideon in All That Jazz, the semiautobiographical story of director and choreographer Bob Fosse. For that performance Scheider was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award. In 1980 he returned to the theatre in a staging of Harold Pinter's Betrayal and won a Drama League Award for distinguished performance. Although Scheider continued to appear in films in his later career, he turned from leading man to smaller character parts, most notably in Still of the Night, Blue Thunder, Russia House, Romeo Is Bleeding, and The Myth of Fingerprints. Scheider also narrated a number of documentaries and television specials.

PERIODICALS

New York Times, February 11, 2008.

People Weekly, February 10, 2008.