Just watched All That Jazz the other night, and 52 Pickup recently. He was not a *great *actor, but when he was well cast he was very effective.
Don’t forget Buddy Russo in “The French Connection,” a role for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.
Interestingly enough, he was originally considered for the role of John Rambo in “First Blood.”
And in the sequel to 2001 - 2010 (an otherwise forgettable movie saved by casting Bob Balaban, Roy Scheider and John Lithgow). And Sorcerer, the remake of Le Salaire de la peur, which is one of the few American remakes that is as good as the original. And not to forget Marathon Man, where he was briefly Dustin Hoffman’s brother.
No histrionics, no huge ego (that I ever heard of), just a great, completely self-assured presence on screen. Dr. Benway was so much more menacing because of his minimalism.
Good night, sweet prince
and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
And a truly amazing performance in “Sorcerer.” He was one of my faves. RIP 
I hope he and Fosse are having a good time wherever they are.
He will be missed. I’ve had the opportunity to work with him – he was a kind-hearted, funny guy and a fascinating actor to watch at work. “Intense” is probably one way to describe him. Though he had been ill these past few years, he was still working and enjoying every minute of it.
Damn. We’re gonna miss him.
Godspeed, sir 
“Smile you son of a bitch!”
I still make it a point to watch Jaws every year before the beaches open. I hope he and Robert Shaw are drunk & singing in that not-quite-big-enough fishing boat in the sky.
I haven’t seen most of his work, but Roy Scheider is one of my favourite actors. He was great in Jaws, brilliant in All That Jazz, and I loved his portrayal of Dr. Benway in Naked Lunch. I wish 2010 had been a better film, but I enjoyed Scheider’s role in it.
No one here has seen the Seven-Ups? That’s his best performance, and the best of the 70’s cop/chase movies.
Thank you, Pochacco. That is one of my all-time favorite movie scenes. Rest in peace, Roy Scheider. You were one of the greats.
I met Mr. Scheider when he and Robert Ballard toured our submarine as part of a public relations gig. Mr. Scheider was supposedly there to see an actual submarine CO in action. We put out to sea with them aboard for a day.
I wasn’t very impressed with the show, though.
I remember watching him sweat in half-a-dozen movies. Seemed like if you wanted an actor who could sweat and make the veins in his neck bulge with tension, he was your man.
Damn. The NYT article says that according to his wife, he died from a staph infection. When this happens, do patients’ survivors have any cause for legal action? I mean, I thought staph infections are usually traced to the hospital workers rather than the patient?
Cite? I’ve never heard anything of the sort. The film couldn’t even get into production until Stallone signed on. It’s possible that Scheider had discussions about some early version of the screenplay, but the movie we know was developed almost entirely as a Stallone vehicle.
Ironically, he was known to have rolled his eyes and figured that something about “Jaws” would be on his tombstone. 
His Joe Gideon was magnificent.
RIP
I remeber that I saw Jaws 1 on video in 1981 when I was a child. That was in my mind the first decant “grown ups”-movie is saw. It was a breathtaking experience.
I also like some of his later movie, like “The Fourth War” (1989) and “Blue thunder” (1984). I must also mention The french connection which was one of his forst
For a second, I thought the OP was talking about Rob Scheider. Which made this thread doubly disappointing. First, because Roy Sceider is dead. Second, because Rob Scheider isn’t.
(Only kidding, I don’t really want Rob Scheider to die. Just his career.)
He was also considered the leading role in The Deer Hunter and the horrormovie The Omen
No, but Charon will.
[nitpick]
Rob Schneider
[/nitpick]
As long as we’re playing “You didn’t mention,” I’m going to throw in Marathon Man. Talk about a wonderful portrayal. He had to play between Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier and he had a character that if played by most actors would be little more than a cartoon of James Bond. But Scheider gave it a reality that still is powerful even though one gets the feeling that if any more of it were left on the cutting room floor, there would not have beem enough for a good commercial.
Great actor - Can’t you just seen him looking down on this thread saying, “Where were all these fans when I was alive?”