Roy Scheider

Acting

Roy Scheider

Born 1932-11-10 · Orange, New Jersey, USA

Roy Richard Scheider (/ˈʃaɪdər/; November 10, 1932 – February 10, 2008) was an American actor and amateur boxer who achieved fame with his leading and supporting roles in celebrated films from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. He was nominated for two Academy Awards, one Golden Globe, and one BAFTA. Scheider's best-known roles include Frank Ligourin in Klute (1971), Police Chief Martin Brody in Jaws (1975) and its 1978 sequel, "Cloudy" Russo in The French Connection (1971), "Buddy" in The Seven-Ups (1973), Doc Levy in Marathon Man (1976), Scanlon / Dominguez in Sorcerer (1977), Joe Gideon in All That Jazz (1979), Frank Murphy in Blue Thunder (1983), and Dr. Heywood Floyd in the 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). Subsequent credits included Naked Lunch (1991), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), The Rainmaker (1997), and The Punisher (2004). He portrayed Captain Nathan Bridger on NBC's seaQuest DSV from 1993–1996.

Acting credits

Jaws poster
7.7

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.

Jaws

1975

The Punisher poster
6.4

When undercover FBI agent Frank Castle's wife and son are slaughtered, he becomes 'the Punisher' -- a ruthless vigilante willing to go to any length to avenge his family.

The Punisher

2004

Jaws 2 poster
6.0

Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.

Jaws 2

1978

Sorcerer poster
7.5

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

Sorcerer

1977

The Rainmaker poster
7.0

Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrappy, unlicensed paralegal, he finds himself in a David-versus-Goliath courtroom battle that tests his ethics, courage, and belief in justice.

The Rainmaker

1997

The French Connection poster
7.5

Tough narcotics detective 'Popeye' Doyle is in hot pursuit of a suave French drug dealer who may be the key to a huge heroin-smuggling operation.

The French Connection

1971

2010 poster
6.7

While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists aboard the Leonov hurtles to a rendezvous with the still-orbiting Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal computer HAL.

2010

1984

Jaws: The Revenge poster
4.1

After another deadly shark attack, Ellen Brody decides she has had enough of New England's Amity Island and moves to the Caribbean to join her son, Michael, and his family. But a great white shark has followed her there, hungry for more lives.

Jaws: The Revenge

1987

Blue Thunder poster
6.2

Los Angeles, California. Officer Murphy, a veteran Metropolitan Police helicopter pilot suffering from severe trauma due to his harsh experiences during the Vietnam War, and Lymangood, his resourceful new partner, are tasked with testing an advanced and heavily armed experimental chopper known as Blue Thunder.

Blue Thunder

1983

All That Jazz poster
7.5

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him - his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.

All That Jazz

1979

Marathon Man poster
7.2

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

Marathon Man

1976

Klute poster
6.8

A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.

Klute

1971

Romeo Is Bleeding poster
6.2

A corrupt cop gets in over his head when he tries to assassinate a beautiful Russian hit-woman.

Romeo Is Bleeding

1993

The Russia House poster
6.1

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

The Russia House

1990

Naked Lunch poster
7.0

Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.

Naked Lunch

1991

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story poster
7.5

The authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors alongside Steven Spielberg, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the film uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story

2025

Loving poster
6.0

Brooks Wilson is in crisis. He is torn between his wife Selma and two daughters and his mistress Grace, and also between his career as a successful illustrator and his feeling that he might still produce something worthwhile.

Loving

1970

The Seven-Ups poster
6.4

A tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.

The Seven-Ups

1973

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects poster
9.0

Documentary focused on the creation of movie and television special effects, hosted by Roy Scheider and Jonathan Brandis, featuring behind the scenes look at how the visual effects were created for popular films of the era.

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects

1994

Still of the Night poster
5.7

When one of his patients is found murdered, psychiatrist Dr. Sam Rice is visited by the investigating officer but refuses to give up any information. He's then visited by the patient's mistress, Brooke Reynolds, whom he quickly falls for despite her being a likely murder suspect. As the police pressure on him intensifies, Rice decides to attempt solving the case on his own and soon discovers that someone is trying to kill him as well.

Still of the Night

1982

RKO 281 poster
6.5

In 1939, boy-wonder Orson Welles leaves New York, where he has succeeded in radio and theater, and, hired by RKO Pictures, moves to Hollywood with the purpose of making his first film.

RKO 281

1999

52 Pick-Up poster
6.1

Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers confront him with a videotape of him with his young mistress and demand $100,000. Fearing that the story will hurt his wife's political campaign if he goes to the police, Harry pretends that he will pay the men, but does not follow through.

52 Pick-Up

1986

The Assassination poster
6.6

Darien, a left-wing police informant, is forced to lure his old friend Sadiel to Paris, allegedly to film a television special about the Third World. Sadiel, the exiled leader of a North African state, is being hunted by the ruthless Colonel Kassar, who will stop at nothing to capture his political rival. Once Sadiel arrives in Paris, Darien realizes he has been manipulated. He tries to turn back the clock, not realizing what or who he’s truly dealing with.

The Assassination

1972

The Peacekeeper poster
4.8

When a terrorist group steals the US President's personal communications computer for launching the US arsenal in case of war, only a heroic Major has the key to prevent a Presidential assassination or a nuclear holocaust.

The Peacekeeper

1997