Actor Roy Scheider died today, 10 February 2008. No cause of death was immediately released, but he had been undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma. Born in Orange, New Jersey, on 10 November 1932, he was nominated for two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor for 1972’s The French Connection and Best Actor for 1980’s All That Jazz).
Scheider majored in history at Rutgers University and then at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. During college, he became involved in the theatre program, and realized that was where his future lie. After graduating, he served three years in the US Air Force, and after leaving the service, started his career on the stage. He won an Obie award for his part in the 1968 production of Stephen D.
Scheider’s first movie appearance was in 1964’s The Curse of the Living Corpse, but he came to fame in 1975, when he played Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws (a role he reprised in 1978’s Jaws 2). He also starred as Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2010 (1984), and as Captain Nathan Bridger in 47 episodes of SeaQuest DSV.
His other genre appearances include: Dracula III: Legacy (2005), Dracula II: Ascension (2003), The Doorway (2000), The Seventh Scroll (1999), Naked Lunch (1991), and Blue Thunder (1983).
Scheider married film editor Cynthia Bebout in 1962, and they had one daughter (Maximillia Connelly Lord) before divorcing in 1989. He then married Brenda King (some sources give her last name as Seimer)—who appeared in two episodes of SeaQuest as his character’s wife—later that same year. They had two children—Christian Verrier Scheider and Molly Mae Scheider. He is survived by his second wife, all three of his children, two grandchildren, and his brother Glenn.