Roy Scheider: The Man Who Cared
Roy Scheider, the actor perhaps best known for his lead role in Jaws but also responsible for many memorable performances of the last three decades, [died yesterday in Arkansas]. He was 75.
To me, Scheiders passing has far greater reverberations than the untimely demise of Heath Ledger. It signals the loss of a major artist whose fully developed body of work remains wholly distinct from the formulaic trajectory of so many leading men. He was refreshingly believable as the hardened police chief vainly attempting to guard an unsuspecting town from the monstrous creature lurking off shore in Steven Spielber's 1975 classic. And yet Hollywood formula didnt sit that well with him: You could find him as a pimp in Klute and Gene Hackmans withdrawn sidekick in The French Connection, but never a one-man army or incredulous hustler. The Jaws sequel was his sole miscalculation, but he followed it up with All that Jazz, Bob Fosses surrealist musical that remains potent to this day. The vibrant movie concludes with [the show-stopping Bye Bye Life, ]where Scheiders Fosse-like character bodes farewell to a troubled existence with a mixture of excitement and melancholia. It could be played at the actors funeral.
Scheiders later roles were minor, but he always stole the show. In David Cronenbergs nightmarish Naked Lunch adaptation, he was like Freddy Krueger in scrubs, and [I couldnt get enough ]of his return to investigative roots in [last years underseen noir](http://www.newyorkpress.com/20/32/film/erickohn.cfm), If I Didnt Care. The movie had a slight, forgettable premise and lo-fi production values, but Scheider brought the material to life in a fantastically subtle role. You could tell that he cared, even if you didnt.