Actor Roy Scheider Dead at 75

Actor Roy Scheider died February 10^th at the age of 75, from complications stemming from myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells, a disease which he had been battling for the last several years.

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Scheider appeared at the New York Shakespeare Festival and won an Obie Award in 1968. His first film role was in the 1963 horror film, Curse of the Living Corpse. He appeared in two major movies, Klute and The French Connection, for which he was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe. He then appeared in his best known role, as police chief Martin Brody in the Steven Spielberg 1975 blockbuster Jaws, and in the seminal thriller Marathon Man. He also appeared in the movie Sorceror, the SF sequel film 2010, and as Bob Fosse in the movie All That Jazz, for which he received a second Academy Award nomination.

In 1993, Scheider signed on to play the lead in Steven Spielberg’s SF television series SeaQuest DSV as Captain Nathan Bridger. After conflict over the creative direction of the show, Scheider left the cast, but returned in guest appearances. Other SFF roles for Scheider include the television mini-series The Seventh Scroll and Wes Craven’s Dracula II and III.

More recently, Scheider appeared on the television show Third Watch and as the father of Frank Castle in comic book adaptation film The Punisher. His last two movies were the thrillers Dark Honeymoon and Iron Cross, both in post-production.