Monday, February 11, 2008

Roy Scheider, RIP



One of my all-time favorite actors died. Roy Scheider, best known for Jaws, but I loved him in All That Jazz, one of my top-ten for his portrayal of the Bob Fosse-like character. Yeah, Bob Fosse-like. Don't lie: that was about Bob Fosse. But from, It's showtime folks, to his pencil-snapping while listening to the read-through of the musical he's directing, Scheider simply put out there what so many of us think and feel when it comes to theater. You love it, but what the fuck are all these untalented, shallow half-wits doing here? I try to watch that movie at least once a year, just to revitalize my juices.

And Scheider was one of those hard-working, no-nonsense, non-theatrical actors I've always wanted to be. Here's what his Richard Dreyfuss said about him:

"He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call 'a knockaround actor,'" Richard Dreyfuss, who co-starred with Scheider and Robert Shaw in "Jaws," told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"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," Dreyfuss said.

Shit, Roy, you're gonna need a bigger boat...

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