How chance meeting landed Roy Scheider lead role in JAWS
It's a classic Hollywood story: a chance meeting at a party leads to a career-defining role. In the case of Roy Scheider, that chance meeting was with none other than Steven Spielberg, and the role was Chief Martin Brody in the shark film classic JAWS (1975).
In an interview for Ain’t It Cool News back in 2011, Spielberg recounted that very first meeting with Scheider, the director said: “He walked over to me and I was literally sitting on a couch with a Coca-Cola in my hand fretting over Jaws, that I wasn’t able to get this shark movie cast, and Roy sat down and introduced himself.
“Of course, I had loved him so much in The French Connection and then in The Seven Ups. Roy actually said to me, “You have such a glum look on your face. What’s the matter?” I said, “Aw, I’m having trouble casting my picture.” He actually said, “Who have you gone out to?” I named a few names and looked at me and said, “What about me?!?” He actually said, “What about ME?!?” in only the way Roy could do that, with his voice kind of cracking the way it does when he hits that high note.
“I looked at him and said, “You’re right! What about you? Will you make my movie?” Without even asking for a script he said, “Of course! If you want me, I’ll do it!” And we actually agreed at a party that he would play Brody… that night… at Andre Eastman’s house. And then he read the script and loved it, which was good because he could have read the script and thrown it back in my face. But he loved it.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Scheider went on to play the role of Chief Brody, and the film became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, cementing both men's careers in the process.
Perhaps part of that appeal of Scheider was his, what The New York Times called in his obituary, “rangy figure, gaunt face and emotional openness made him particularly appealing in everyman roles.”
For Scheider, who was born in Orange, New Jersey on November 10, 1932 and began his acting career in the 1960s, starting off with small roles in television shows such as Naked City and The Defenders, the role of Chief Brody was a turning point in his career.
Not bad going for the actor who landed his first feature film role in The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964), just over 10 years earlier. He went on to star in numerous other films, including Marathon Man (1976), Sorcerer (1977), Last Embrace (1979) All That Jazz (1979), which gained him his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor.
He considered it, along with JAWS and The French Connection as his three landmark films.
Although Scheider returned for JAWS 2 (1978), along with Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Murray Hamilton (Mayor Vaughn), Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks) and John Williams on shark scoring duties, Spielberg did not.
Scheider and Spielberg were reunited almost two decades later for the TV series Seaquest DSV, which saw Scheider as the lead, Dr Nathan Bridger. The opening episode even has a playful homage to JAWS.
Scheider was absent from the sequels that would follow, taking to the skies in Blue Thunder (1983) to avoid the second JAWS sequel, JAWS 3D (1983), and declined to reprise his role as Chief Brody in the opening of JAWS the Revenge, where he was to have been killed by the shark.
Instead it was Brody’s youngest son, Sean who became the first victim in the final JAWS film to date, with Chief Brody having already died of a heart attack ahead of the film’s story.
Throughout his career, Scheider appeared in over 70 films and television shows, earning critical acclaim for his performances.
Scheider himself passed away at the age of 75 on February 10, 2008. He had suffered from multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, for several years. He passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by his family. He left behind a legacy of great work, and he will always be remembered as one of the most talented actors of his generation.
Of the Chief Brody actor, his JAWS co-star Richard Dreyfuss who played Matt Hooper, said: "He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call a knockaround actor – that means a professional that lives the life of a professional actor and doesn't yell and scream at the fates and does his job and does it as well as he can."
Dean Newman, Head of Content at The Daily Jaws, which is the world’s number one JAWS fan site, said: “Any story about assembling the talent that helped create the JAWS we know and love is always fascinating, and you can’t help but smile at Spielberg’s reminiscence of that first meeting with Scheider. You can almost half expect Scheider to say “I’m Brody, I’m Brody!” like he does in the film in his first encounter with Matt Hooper.
“Because of JAWS, Scheider was one of those actors I followed to a film, no matter what it was, and no matter what film that was Roy was always an effortless joy to watch, whether he was the lead in 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), Cohen and Tate (1989), or more character driven parts in the likes of The Russia House (1990) or even The Punisher (2004). Dependable, Scheider in a film never lets you down, and he has left us a great body of work to remember him by. Hail to the Chief.”
Words by Dean Newman
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