Roy Scheider
Roy Scheider died Sunday.
He was a great actor. Jaws wasn't my favorite film with him, actually. The main roles I remember him for are (envelope please?):
1) Gene Hackman's sidekick in The French Connection -- a sadly overlooked classic these days (which still has one of the best chase scenes ever filmed). (Don't laugh, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that role, losing to Ben Johnson from The Last Picture Show.)
2) His powerful delivery of scientific logic and reason as Dr. Heywood Floyd in 2010 (a movie I liked in spite of all the criticisms, and I note for the record that it still scores 65% on the Rotten Tomatometer!).
3) Bob Fosse in All That Jazz. Another oft-overlooked film that really had some great bits in it, and was more or less rescued by a classic off-character performance by Scheider. (He got his second Oscar nom for this one, losing to Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs Kramer.)
I also often think of him in The Seven-Ups (another classic car chase!), and as Jane Fonda's pimp in Klute, while trying to forget Blue Thunder and SeaQuest (sigh). Although Scheider was always seen as a method actor, known for grity realism and a down-to-earth nature, he was really a top-notch performer, and his gradual (but not complete) withdrawl from acting has always been seen as something of a Hollywood mystery.
He did return as a kind of 'elder statesman' (playing father roles) late in his career, and more recently actually returned to starring features, with two currently in post-production. Iron Cross is the one that will probably garner the most attention, since he is in the starring role, ironically as a retired New York City cop.
He will be missed.