Roy Scheider lost his battle with cancer this weekend and film lost one of it's bright spots. A likeable everyman, Scheider rose to prominence in the Jane Fonda film "Klute" after a short career in B movies.
He followed that with an Oscar nominated turn as Det. Buddy Russo in "The French Connection" and as Buddy Manuchi in "The Seven-Ups".
Scheider was said to have been ready to play a hero, a character much like he had turned down in "The Omen" when he took the role of Chief Martin Brody. The troubled production of "Jaws" is legendary, as is it's place in film history. Scheider was an audience favorite because he was us. He didn't know about bite radius marks or boats or how to tie a ship-shape knot. He was an outsider called upon to buck the system and save the day. Jaws was a phenominal success and the first film to break $100 million at the box office. It solidified careers of it's stars and director, changed the way movies are released and gave Scheider the freedom to choose his roles.
He chose well with "Marathon Man" and then again with "All That Jazz". The Bob Fosse role (called Joe Gideon) earned Scheider his second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actor (he lost to Dustin Hoffman). He continued his leading man roles, and returned to another police role, with "Blue Thunder". This story of an aging LA police helicopter pilot, caught up in a conspiracy involving a high tech riot control helicopter is a personal favorite and a great showcase for the types of roles Scheider played best.
He continued with "2010" and "52 Pick-Up" but seemed to fall from audiences eyes into supporting roles for most of the rest of the 1980s. In 1993 he signed on as Captain Nathan Bridger on the Steven Speilberg produced television show "SeaQuest DSV". For three seasons he commanded the ship designed by his character in this futuristic "Star Trek" of the seas.
Scheider returned to film but seldom to theatrical releases. He worked mainly in "B" pictures where he started his career, occassionaly popping up in films such as "The Rainmaker" with Matt Damon and TV movies such as HBO's "RKO 281". One of his last projects was as narrator for the "Jaws" documentary "The Shark is Still Working".
He had been fighting multiple myeloma for a couple of years and finally succumbed to a staff infection at UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.
He will be greatly missed. 
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