SUBMITTED BY Kit-Kat

February 12, 2008 — Duane Byrge reports: "Roy Scheider, a brilliant stage actor who won movie renown as the small-town cop in "Jaws," died Sunday in Little Rock, Ark., of complications from a staph infection. He was 75.

In recent years, Scheider had been diagnosed with blood cancer. In June 2005, he underwent a bone-marrow transplant to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. Scheider was nominated for two Oscars: as best actor for his performance as the amphetamine-driven Broadway dance director in "All That Jazz" (1979) and as best supporting actor for his portrayal of Gene Hackman's tough guy partner in 1971's "The French Connection."

"All That Jazz" was pioneering dancer Bob Fosse's intimate slant on the New York theater. Scheider played the Fosse figure (who was the film's co-author and director), and his tour de force performance won him, in addition to the Oscar nomination, wider notice for showing, among other things, that tough guys can dance. In 1980, Scheider returned to his first love, the stage, where his performance in a production of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" opposite Blythe Danner and Raul Julia earned him the Drama League of New York award for distinguished performance.

During the '60s, Scheider appeared in a number of stage productions, including a Broadway revival of "Tartuffe" and off-Broadway productions of "Romeo and Juliet," "The Alchemist," "The Nuns" and "The Year Boston Won the Pennant." But he never stopped playing distinguished character roles in films, notably in Robert Benton's "Still of the Night" (1982) and John Badham's action spectacular "Blue Thunder" (1983). He was the American spy in Fred Schepisi's "The Russia House" (1990) and a calculating Mafia don in "Romeo Is Bleeding" (1993). He gave authoritative performances in such films as "The Seven-Ups" (1973), "Marathon Man" (1976) and "Sorcerer" (1977)."

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