Roy Scheider, a stage actor with a background in the classics who
became one of the leading figures in the American film renaissance of
the 1970s, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75 and
lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Mr. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and
died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Seimer,
said.

Mr. Scheider's rangy figure, gaunt face and emotional openness made
him particularly appealing in everyman roles, most famously as the
agonized police chief of "Jaws," Steven Spielberg's 1975 breakthrough
hit, about a New England resort town haunted by the knowledge that a
killer shark is preying on the local beaches.

- - -


Scheider was terrific in lots of roles, but those boat scenes in Jaws
were just wonderful.

"We're going to need a bigger boat..."