Biography for
Roy Scheider More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 November 1932, Orange, New Jersey, USA

Date of Death

10 February 2008, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA (multiple myeloma)

Birth Name

Roy Richard Scheider

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Lean, angular-faced and authoritatively spoken lead / supporting actor Roy Scheider obviously never heard the old actor's axiom about "never appearing with kids or animals" lest they overshadow your performance. Breaking that rule did him no harm, though, as he achieved pop cult status by finding, fighting and blowing up a 25-foot-long Great White shark (nicknamed "Bruce") in the mega-hit Jaws (1975) and then electrocuting an even bigger Great White in the vastly inferior Jaws 2 (1978).

Athletic Scheider was born in November 1932 in Orange, New Jersey, and was a keen sportsman from a young age, competing in baseball and boxing (his awkwardly mended broken nose is a result of his foray into Golden Gloves competitions). While at college, his pursuits turned from sports to theater and he studied drama at Rutgers and Franklin and Marshall. After a stint in the military, Scheider appeared with the New York Shakespeare Festival and won an "Obie Award" for his appearance in the play "Stephen D."

His film career commenced with the campy Z-grade horror cheesefest The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964), and he then showed up in Star! (1968), Paper Lion (1968), Stiletto (1969) and Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970). In 1971 he really came to the attention of film audiences with his role in the Jane Fonda thriller Klute (1971) and then as Det. Buddy Russo (scoring his first Oscar nomination) alongside fiery Gene Hackman in the crime drama The French Connection (1971). His performance as a tough street cop in that film led him into another tough cop role as NYC Det. Buddy Manucci in the underappreciated The Seven-Ups (1973), which features one of the best car chase sequences ever put on film.

In the early 1970s the Peter Benchley novel "Jaws" was a phenomenal best-seller, and young director Steven Spielberg was chosen by Universal Pictures to direct the film adaptation, Jaws (1975), in which Scheider played police chief Brody and shared lead billing with Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss in the tale of a New England seaside community terrorized by a hungry Great White shark. "Jaws" was a blockbuster, and for many years held the record as the highest-grossing film of all time. Scheider then turned up as the shady CIA agent brother of Dustin Hoffman in the unnerving Marathon Man (1976) and in the misfired William Friedkin-directed remake of Le salaire de la peur (1953) titled Sorcerer (1977), before again returning to Amity to battle another giant shark in Jaws 2 (1978). Seeking a change from tough cops and hungry sharks, he took the role of womanizing, drug-popping choreographer Joe Gideon, the lead character of the semi-autobiographical portrayal of director Bob Fosse in the sparkling All That Jazz (1979). It was another big hit for Scheider (and another Oscar nomination), with the film featuring a stunning opening sequence to the tune of the funky George Benson number "On Broadway", and breathtaking dance routines including the "Airotica" performance by the glamorous Sandahl Bergman.

Returning to another law enforcement role, Scheider played a rebellious helicopter pilot in the John Badham conspiracy / action film Blue Thunder (1983), a scientist in the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) simply titled 2010 (1984), a cheating husband who turns the tables on his blackmailers in 52 Pick-Up (1986), a cold-blooded hit man in Cohen and Tate (1988) and a CIA operative in the muddled and slow-moving The Russia House (1990). The versatile Scheider was then cast as the captain of a futuristic submarine in the relatively popular TV series "SeaQuest DSV" (1993), which ran for three seasons.

Inexplicably, however, Scheider had seemingly, and slowly, dropped out of favor with mainstream film audiences, and while he continued to remain busy, predominantly in supporting roles (generally as US presidents or military officers), most of the vehicles he appeared in were B-grade political thrillers such as The Peacekeeper (1997), Executive Target (1997), Chain of Command (2000) and Red Serpent (2002).

IMDb Mini Biography By: firehouse44@hotmail.com

Spouse

Brenda King	(11 February 1989 - 10 February 2008) (his death) 2 children
Cynthia Scheider	(8 November 1962 - 1989) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster PA, USA

One daughter, Maximillia, with ex-wife Cynthia Scheider.

Son, Christian Scheider, and daugher, Molly, with wife Brenda King.

He was originally cast as "Michael" in The Deer Hunter (1978), as the second movie of a three movie deal with Universal Studios. Because he did not believe that the character would travel around the world to find his friend, he quit the picture. Universal executives were furious, but they agreed to let him out of his Universal contract if he made Jaws 2 (1978), which he did. He later regarded pulling out of The Deer Hunter (1978) as the career decision he most regrets.

He was offered the lead role in The Omen (1976) and reportedly was very interested in taking the role, but had to turn in down due to previous commitments. Consequently, his desire to play that type of role (a self-sacrificing, noble hero) led to his accepting the role of "Chief Brody" in Jaws (1975).

His name was inspiration for Japanese enterprise Toei create TV Series "Uchû keiji Shaider" (1984).

Underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. (June 2005)

Attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, home of future graduates Elisabeth Shue and Andrew Shue, Zach Braff, Lauryn Hill, and Ahmed Best.

Has played the President of the United States 3 times.

He is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

On March 4, 2007, Scheider was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the SunDeis Film Festival at Brandeis University, following a screening of his classic film All That Jazz (1979). It was the sixth time that Scheider had seen the film, and the first time for his young daughter, Molly, who accompanied him.

Was in talks to appear in The Verdict (1982).

His wife, Brenda Seimer, saved the old Art Deco Sag Harbor, Maine, movie marquee when the owner of the theater was renovating the building, and just tore it down and threw it out. She was threatened with arrest for stealing the sign. Scheider helped organize a community fundraising drive to re-create it, and the theater owner put it back in place.

Had two grandchildren.

When he was shown in the "In Memoriam" segment during the telecast of the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009), his name was spelled incorrectly: Schieder instead of Scheider.

Roy completed all his scenes for Iron Cross before passing away, but a technical error forced the production to re-shoot certain scenes without Roy.

Was cited as one of the most promising movie personalities of 1973 in John Willis' 1974 Film Annual "Screen World" book.

Personal Quotes

The important thing is to do good work, no matter what medium you do it in.

[speaking in 1980] You read a lot about movies with budgets of $25 to $30 million. Hell, if a studio can piss away that kind of money, why not let 'em piss on me?

[On Bob Fosse] Fosse, I think, came to a high point in his life, with an Oscar, a Tony and an Emmy, and asked himself, "Do they think I'm really that good? They don't know I'm really a sham, a hoax, a phony, a lousy human being, not much of a friend to anybody and a flop ... they don't know I'm covered with flop sweat". That's an expression Bob uses a lot -- flop sweat.

[On working with Jane Fonda on Klute (1971)] I liked her passion. And her professionalism. You know, Jane worked for years as a silly ingénue on the stage in New York and, I mean, she was laughable at first. But she stayed with it and, slowly, carefully, learned her craft.

[about shooting the troubled Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (1975)] The hardest thing about that one was working with Jeannie Berlin. You don't do a picture with that one unless you've got a personal stake in it. She's very disturbed, and it was hard for the director.

[on how his career was affected by The French Connection (1971)] I got inundated with cop scripts after that. It was the same role over and over, and every cop movie was a cheap imitation. I'd get this script and every one had a chase sequence, every scene was either set in a garage or a vacant lot or a warehouse with everybody getting gunned down.

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