Movies
Everett Collection/Rex Features
The actor passed away yesterday in hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas.
He is believed to have died from complications from a staph infection after being treated for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, for the past two years.
Scheider was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 1971 movie The French Connection and Best Actor for 1979's All That Jazz.
However, he was most famous for his role as Police Chief Martin Brody in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws, the first to earn $100m at the box office.
Co-star Richard Dreyfuss told the BBC: "He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call a knockaround actor. 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."
Scheider is survived by second wife Brenda Seimer and three children.
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