R.I.P., Roy Scheider

scheider.jpg

Sad sad news. New York Times obit here. More thoughts at Cinematical. Here’s Jonathan’s post – he includes a clip from Sorcerer.

And here is a not-to-be-missed post on Scheider from Jeremy at Moon in the Gutter.

A compilation of awesome posters of the Scheider-movies from the 1970s.

Probably best known for his role in Jaws, my favorite Roy Scheider performance is in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (although I am also partial to his performance in The French Connection). But his portrayal of Joe Gideon (Bob Fosse’s alter ego) in All That Jazz – a dance man who smokes, fucks, drinks, and pops pills right into open-heart surgery – is one of the all-time great performances by an actor, period. He was nominated for an Academy Award.

Scheider was never afraid to get ugly in his work, or unlikeable, or grander-than-life. He had courage. I can’t imagine anyone else in the part of Joe Gideon and … Roy Scheider is most definitely NOT the obvious choice. But he claimed that part. He IS that part.

“Showtime!”

I think one of my favorite scenes is when they’re all in rehearsal in the dance studio – and it’s just not. working … and it’s all on him to figure it out, because he’s the choreographer, he’s the general in charge. Things get tense. But there’s a block, somehow … Gideon can’t GET to what he wants to express. It’s a classic scene (rarely portrayed on film) of the artistic process. It’s not a forgiving montage – where we see, over time, the struggle, and then the triumph. No. We are in the muck and mud with him. He can’t get out of the creative block. We are with him thru that. The scene goes on for what feels like an excruciating amount of time … you yearn for them to cut away, like: let them just work out the problem on their own, leave me out of it. But then comes the breakthrough. Gideon figures it out.

Great great scene, one I treasure for many reasons.

Please leave your favorite performances in the comments section, as a tribute to this great actor.

I don’t post the following clip to be in bad taste. I post it because it’s perfect. And it is how I will remember him.


Bye-bye, Mr. Scheider. You’ll be missed more than you’ll ever know.

This entry was posted in Actors, RIP and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

31 Responses to R.I.P., Roy Scheider

  1. mitchell says:

    his face at the very end..on the long tracking shot toward jessica Lange..amazing ,subtle and heatrbreaking..thanks for the post.

  2. red says:

    He has that one tiny moment as he gets really close to her when you can tell he’s afraid … it just wafts across his face … marvelous. It’s such a deep performance.

  3. mitchell says:

    the scene where he rehearses with his daughter is another miracle..so tender and respectful

  4. red says:

    Erzebet Foldi! Yes – I love those scenes. God. Even in the midst of that chaos – he (and all his lovers, too) have helped to preserve her innocence – know what I mean? She’s not precocious, except as a dancer – she seems like a real little girl.

  5. mitchell says:

    exactly…and of course the scene where leland palmer is rehearsing by herself and they dance while he gets inspiration for the number he is tuck on…i sooo believe their relationship history

  6. Dave E. says:

    Sad news. Besides the work you already have mentioned, I’d add “52 Pick-up” and his supporting role in “Marathon Man”. I don’t know what critics thought of those performances, but I thought he was great in both.

  7. david says:

    Yep – his “All That Jazz” performance is awesome, in the true sense of the word. RIP, Roy.

  8. Jeff says:

    “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

    Always one of my favorites. Over the holidays, we watched “Blue Thunder” and “2010” and it reminded me why I always liked him so much. Not flashy, just hard working; so good at what he did.

  9. Rob says:

    I’m really sorry to hear this. Scheider was one of my faves, too. I’ll add a film to the ones mentioned here. “Sorcerer” is a film not mentioned here because many people probably never saw it. Despite it’s curious title, it is not a horror film. If not his very best work, it’s top two or three. One of the most harrowing films I ever saw. There is a scene on a bridge that has to be the most gripping I have ever encountered in a movie.

  10. red says:

    I thought he was wonderful in 2010 – and yes, Marathon Man!

    I also admire his long and successful stage career – I’m sad I didn’t get to see him live.

  11. red says:

    Sorcerer was Billy Friedkin as director, right? The stories about the filming of that movie are legendary – and I think, at the time, it was a massive flop – I can’t remember why – and it sunk Friedkin’s career (for a while). I have heard many people say the same thing as you, Rob, though – that it’s wonderful. I’ll have to check it out.

  12. jackie says:

    “wanna get drunk and fool around?” chief brody says to his wife ellen….. I loved him in Jaws, my favorite movie, which I watched again, just a few nights ago. also, the 3 men are on the boat (3 men in a boat…) and hooper and quint are showing off their scars, there’s a shot of brody lifting up his shirt to share something … and then thinks better of it – not a manly enough scar I guess… maybe it was prostate surgery. he was so wonderful. what a fine actor.

  13. Lisa says:

    Aaaah, he died here in Little Rock. That makes me sad; so far from home.

  14. red says:

    Lisa – yeah, I saw that and thought of you – wondered if he had family there?

  15. red says:

    Jackie – //3 men in a boat// hahahahaha

    The scenes with those 3 guys out on that boat are seriously CLASSIC. When they get drunk and kind of hilarious? Amazing stuff.

  16. red says:

    And let’s not forget Klute!

  17. I agree with Sorcerer. It’s an excellent performance by Scheider and as good a film as Wages of Fear, upon which it’s based. That’s the clip I put up in fact on that other blog I have because I love the grandeur of watching that truck go over that bridge but I also love the tension portrayed in Scheider’s eyes and the strange excitement he portrays at the end believing the others will not make it over the bridge thus making him more money. It’s a great performance but I also agree that his Joe Gideon is simply stunning.

    I’ve probably seen “All That Jazz” around twenty times (who in the theatre hasn’t?) and am still completely convinced Scheider is a singer, dancer, choreographer. Great performance.

  18. Lisa says:

    I think there’s a special treatment program at the Med Center for the type of cancer that he had (multiple myeloma).

  19. …and just a quick aside: I love the bitching and backstabbing and faux adulation for others’ work in the theatre that Fosse captured so well in that film. He captured the good stuff too (circling the wagons, sense of family) to his credit but I love the self preservation aspects he captured as well (“Now Sinatra will never do it.”) And Scheider stands in the middle of it all, embroiled in it yet above it. He really does an amazing job of playing a character who IS the theatre and yet hates it as much as he loves it.

  20. jp says:

    He will be missed. While I loved his more popular roles I became a real fan when he did Blue Thunder. I also liked him in SeaQuest. When I heard on the radio he passed away my heart just broke.

  21. mantastic420 says:

    Roy will certainly be missed for his impressive body of work.

    If one positive can be gleaned from this, it will hopefully be the recognition of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. UAMS is one of the leading teaching and research hospitals in the world, and doctors there have made amazing breakthroughs in cancer treatment.

    Perhaps Roy’s death will help people realize that and more of those suffering with cancer, multiple myeloma especially, will look to Arkansas and this tremendous facility for treatment.

  22. Rich D, says:

    Gang, I’m so glad you remember lesser-known works like “Sorcerer” (actually a remake of the French thriller “The Wages of Fear”), but have any of you folks seen “Cohen and Tate”? What a tight, tense thriller! To me, Roy was one of the all-time great “pissed-off” actors around – few others got angry the way he did. It was an honest, passionate type of anger, one that would stop short of apoplectic rage. Watching him act on that razor edge always felt REAL. What a great, underrated actor. He will be greatly missed.

  23. red says:

    Jonathan – yes, it is such an incredible performance. The self-loathing – the gypsy-like quality of the life … and yet what it comes down to, in the end, is just hard work. With your family of misfits that makes up the theatre.

    It’s such an honest film.

  24. red says:

    Rich – Yes, that’s right – Wages of Fear! Thanks for the reminder – I had forgotten it was a remake!

    I have not seen Cohen & Tate – putting it on the Netflix queue now.

    You are right on, with your comments about his anger. It’s something else. Never hammy. Always real, and a little bit frightening.

  25. Rich D says:

    Good luck finding “Cohen and Tate” – I don’t know if it’s currently available. It was first shown to me on an out-of-print VHS; I finally found it myself on LaserDisc at an HMV clearance outlet. You can bet I jumped on that puppy pronto!

    It seems that anyone I mention that film to has never even heard of it.

  26. JFH says:

    For some reason I like Roy Scheider’s performance in The Seven-Ups more than The French Connection

  27. red says:

    He was also very good in Myth of Fingerprints – a movie that had a lot of problems (I thought) – but I loved his performance in it. It was nice to see him as part of an ensemble. Often, he would play a sort of isolated guy – but in this one, he was the father, so it was a real ensemble.

  28. Noonz says:

    Another vote for Blue Thunder here. It’s an exciting movie and his performance backs up that “real” theme others have mentioned regarding Scheider. The guy was simply believable as an actor, period. I’m sorry to see him go.

  29. jen says:

    Lisa (and all others…)
    Yup, the three places that are known for their development of treatments for Multiple Myeloma are in Little Rock, Arizona and Mayo Clinic. So, at least he was getting some of the best care available.

    If anyone wants info on this cancer (and I speak from experience), you can look to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation for some of the most up to date stuff.

    Sorry for adding a non-tribute type thing to this, Sheila, I find it hard to resist spreading info on Multiple Myeloma.

  30. red says:

    Jen – it is definitely part of the tribute. It really is. I had no idea – and it is great information to have.

  31. laurenmiller says:

    OMG I can’t wait for Iron Cross!! I just love Roy Scheider in All That Jazz.. But I really want to see his final film!!! Does anyone know when it comes out? It looks like he tries to murder the Nazi that killed his family.. I watched the trailer and it looks really good.

Comments are closed.