Roy Scheider

Roy Scheider mini-bio: Scheider's first film role was in the 1963 horror film Curse of the Living Corpse. (He was billed as "Roy R. Sheider"). In 1971 he appeared in two highly popular movies, Klute and The French Connection, the latter garnering him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Four years later he would play in the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws and three years after that, was nominated for his second Academy Award, this time as Best Actor in All That Jazz. He was originally cast as Michael in The Deer Hunter, as the second movie of a three movie deal with Universal Studios. Because he did not believe that the character would travel around the world to find his friend, he quit the picture. Universal executives were furious, but they let him out of his contract when he agreed to do Jaws 2.

In 1993, Scheider signed on to star in the Steven Spielberg-produced television series seaQuest DSV. During the second season, Scheider voiced disdain for the direction in which the series was heading. His comments were highly publicized and the media criticized him for panning his own show. NBC made additional casting and writing changes in the third season, and Scheider decided to exit the show. His contract however, required that he make several guest appearances in season three. Scheider went on to star in films such as The Myth of Fingerprints (1997) and Silver Wolf (1998). He has also repeatedly guest starred on the NBC television series Third Watch. Among his most recent films is the crusty father of hero Frank Castle in The Punisher (2004). In 2004, Scheider was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. In June 2005, he underwent a bone marrow transplant to successfully treat the cancer.

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