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Roy Scheider, 1932-2008
February 12, 2008

Roy Scheider, one of the more reliable and respected actors of his era who was adept as both a leading man and a supporting player, died of complications from a staph infection on Feb. 10. He was 75 years old.

 

Though he was never recognized with an Academy Award, Scheider’s talents, professionalism and respectability are certainly reflected in the list of Oscar-winning directors that he collaborated with over the years, including such noteworthy filmmakers as Jonathan Demme (whom directed Scheider in 1979’s Last Embrace), Bob Fosse (1979’s All That Jazz), Robert Benton (1982’s Still of the Night), Francis Coppola (1997’s The Rainmaker), John Schlesinger (1976’s Marathon Man), William Friedkin (1971’s The French

Connection and Sorcerer in 1977) and, of course, Steven Spielberg, who’s 1975 film Jaws turned Scheider into an overnight star (though he had been making films for some seven years at that point).

 

A closer look at his resume reveals that Scheider, whose image was that of a lean, confident go-getter, was not above taking a turn to the offbeat every now and then, as can be witnessed by his roles as Doctor Benway in David Cronenberg’s bizarre Naked Lunch (1991) or a college debate team coach in Listen to Me (1989) or an astro-physicist (!) in 2010 (1984).  

 

The latter third of Scheider’s five-decade career found him popping up in a number of DVD Premieres. In fact, he was one of the first major actors to regularly appear in straight-to-video titles (back when they were referred to as “straight-to-video”). And though a bunch were as lousy as you’d expect, there were a handful of diamonds in rough, particularly Plato’s Run (1997) and Wild Justice (1994). Both are frenetic, undeniably B-ish offerings that receive a modicum of class via the participation of Scheider. He may have wanted a bigger boat 20 years earlier in Jaws, but as he got on in years and juicier roles grew scarce, he was the bigger boat that buoyed many a potentially forgettable production.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on February 12, 2008 | Comments (0)