b'50 Years Ago, Roy Scheider Warned Us That WereGonna Need a Bigger BoatHow the star of "Jaws" cut his teeth on acting in MaplewoodBY DONNY LEVITRoy Scheider played police chief Martin Brody in "Jaws" in 1975.W iththecolderAward-nominee Scheider brought his intense ev- toManyfilmbuffsandHollywoodindustry months in full effect,erymanactingpersonatoothericonicrolesinleaders argue that Jaws was the first-ever summer your 2025 memoriesThe French Connection (NYPD Detective Buddymovie blockbuster. The wide release was a new ofswimmingdownRusso), All That Jazz (Joe Gideon), and Marathonmarketing approach at the time. Approximately theshoremaybeMan (Agent Doc Levy). 450 theaters ran the fading.Mostlike- BeforehehuntedJaws,Scheideractedonfilm at once, leading ly,youtookadip,stage, attended the mathematics club and volun- massiveprofits walked the boardwalk and maybe even indulgedteered on the lunchroom committee at Columbiaandanincreasein in a little salt water taffy. HighSchool.Whenhegraduatedin1950,heHollywood summer The Jersey beachgoers in 1916 werent so lucky.could never have guessed that he would be onefilm budgets. That summer, at least four swimmers fell victim toof the first of two alumni to be inducted into theMarketersincor-deadly shark attacks and haunted many a beachColumbia High School Hall of Fame. poratedmerchan-town. In 1974, author Peter Benchley spun a con- Althoughtripstothebeachareverymuchdising(Jaws:The temporary shark tale of his own from his home inbehindus,the50thanniversaryofJawsthisGame,T-shirts, Princeton. His bestseller about a fictional shark thatpast summer provided an opportunity to revisitbeachtowelsand haunted a beach town was adapted into a movieScheiders exemplary performance. The re-release that quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. of the movie during Labor Day weekend includ-Columbia High School graduate Roy Scheidered 3D viewings in theaters and pop-up drive-in (1950) was front and center to it all. screenings that brought out nostalgic viewers as InadditiontoplayingpolicechiefMartinwell as first-timers who were eager to catch theRoy Scheider graduated from Columbia High School Brody in Jaws, Obie Award-winner and Academyflick on the big screen.in 1950.12/ matters magazine / holiday 2025'