RIP Roy Scheider

Best known for his role as Chief Brody in Jaws, Roy Scheider has died at the age of 75.

He was nominated for a best-supporting actor Oscar in 1971's "The French Connection" in which he played the police partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman and for best-actor for 1979's "All That Jazz," the autobiographical Bob Fosse film.

However, he was best known for his role in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film, "Jaws," the enduring classic about a killer shark terrorizing beachgoers and well as millions of moviegoers.

Widely hailed as the film that launched the era of the Hollywood blockbuster, it was also the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office. Scheider starred with Richard Dreyfuss, who played an oceanographer.

"He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call 'a knockaround actor,'" Dreyfuss said.

"A 'knockaround actor' to me is a compliment 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," he said.

In 2005, one of Scheider's most famous lines in the movie — "You're gonna need a bigger boat" — was voted No. 35 on the American Film Institute's list of best quotes from U.S. movies. [...]

He [Dreyfuss] added that Scheider "was a pretty civilized human being — you can't ask for much more than that."

Scheider was also politically active. He participated in rallies protesting U.S. military action in Iraq, including a massive New York demonstration in March 2003 that police said drew 125,000 chanting activists.

Jaws was one of the first movies of that genre I watched - granted years after it released since it came out the year I was born - but it's a timeless classic. My daughter now watches it (yes, we make her close her eyes for the gory stuff), and loves the suspense of it. I'm actually quite sad he's passed away.