Roy Scheider

 ( 1932 Births ) 

In 1971, he appeared in two highly popular films, Klute, directed by Alan Pakula, and The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin. The latter, in which he played a fictionalized version of New York City detective Sonny Grosso, gained him an Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Scheider became much in demand. He went to Europe to have key supporting roles in The French Conspiracy (1972) and The Outside Man (1972).

In 1973, Scheider's first starring role came in The Seven-Ups, a quasi follow-up to The French Connection, in which Scheider's character is once again based on Grosso. He was second-billed in Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (1975). Scheider portrayed Chief Martin Brody in the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws (1975), which also starred Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. Scheider's ad-libbed line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat," was voted 35th on the American Film Institute's list of best movie quotes. He appeared as secret agent Doc Levy in Marathon Man (1976), with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.

Scheider was initially set to appear in the lead role in Michael Cimino's never-filmed romantic thriller Perfect Strangers, but the film was canceled due to "political machinations" at Paramount. Scheider was later offered the role portrayed by Robert De Niro in Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978), which was the second film of a three-picture deal with Universal Studios. He reunited with French Connection director William Friedkin in Sorcerer (1977), the second adaptation of the 1950 French novel The Wages of Fear. Although the film didn't do well at the box office, it has since acquired a large cult following.

Still under contract after dropping out two weeks before The Deer Hunter started filming, Universal offered him the option of reprising his role as Martin Brody for a Jaws sequel, and would consider his contractual obligations fulfilled if he accepted. Scheider accepted, and Jaws 2 was released in 1978. It was a huge hit. Scheider starred in Last Embrace (1979), a thriller directed by Jonathan Demme. He received his second Academy Award nomination, this time as Best Actor in All That Jazz (1979), in which he played a fictionalized version of the film's director and co-writer Bob Fosse. Some of the film's production was portrayed in the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, in which Scheider was played by Lin Manuel-Miranda.

He made a thriller with Meryl Streep for Robert Benton, Still of the Night (1982), which was a box-office disappointment. The following year, however, his box office performance improved with Blue Thunder (1983), a John Badham film about a prototype attack helicopter that provided security over the city of Los Angeles during the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. He made two TV movies, (1983) and Tiger Town (1984). This was followed by a role as Dr. Heywood Floyd in Peter Hyams' 2010, a 1984 sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction classic , in which William Sylvester originated the role of Floyd. He provided narration for (1985).

Scheider was in The Men's Club (1986), 52 Pick-Up (1986) for John Frankenheimer, Cohen and Tate (1988), Listen to Me (1989), Night Game (1989), The Fourth War (1990) again for Frankenheimer, Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture (1990), and The Russia House (1990). One of his later parts was that of Dr. Benway in the long-in-production 1991 film adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch. Scheider played a mob boss who meets a horrific fate in the Gary Oldman crime film Romeo Is Bleeding (1994) and a chief executive of a corrupt insurance company cross-examined by Matt Damon's character in 1997's John Grisham's The Rainmaker, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Scheider appeared among an ensemble cast in The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He appeared as the crusty father of hero Frank Castle in The Punisher (2004), and in 2007, starred in The Poet and If I Didn't Care. When Scheider died in February 2008, he had two movies upcoming: Dark Honeymoon, which had been completed, and the thriller Iron Cross. In Iron Cross, Scheider plays the leading role of Joseph, a holocaust survivor with a propensity for justice, which was inspired by director Joshua Newton's late father Bruno Newton. Iron Cross was ultimately released in 2011.

Scheider was lead star in the Steven Spielberg-produced television series seaQuest DSV as Captain Nathan Bridger. During the second season, Scheider voiced disdain for the direction in which the series was heading. His comments were highly publicized, and the media criticized him for panning his own show. NBC made additional casting and writing changes in the third season, and Scheider decided to leave the show. His contract required that he make several guest appearances that season.

Scheider hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in the 10th (1984–1985) season and appeared on the Family Guy episode "Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey", voicing himself as the host of a toilet-training video, portions of which were censored on FOX and syndicated broadcasts. He provided voiceover on the Family Guy episode "Three Kings", which was recorded in September 2007 and aired in May 2009, a year and three months after his death in February 2008, which also featured his Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss.

Scheider guest-starred in the episode "" as serial killer Mark Ford Brady, who is identified at the episode's end as being the biological father of Detective Goren, played by Vincent D'Onofrio. He narrated and was associate producer of the 2006 Jaws documentary The Shark is Still Working. In 2007, Scheider received one of two annual Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SunDeis Film Festival in Waltham, Massachusetts. After Scheider's death, a biography entitled Roy Scheider: A Life was released as a tribute, compiling reviews, essays, and narration on his life and career.