Why was I so fond of Roy Schieder? I saw him in only three or four films. He was no Nicholas Cage who seems to make a film every week or so. The thing was that after "Jaws" and "Marathon Man" he wasn't offered much work. I can't understand why.
He made "Jaws" credible; he played a man who had a conscience yet had to do a job of work that tested it. In "Marathon Man" he played a devoted brother who led a secret life.
He was so good at playing roles where he was a man with a mission but had moral unease about it.
"Marathon Man" was I think his best film though he wasn't in it for long (killed off by Olivier as a German dentist with a Nazi past). There was an intensity about his performance, both mental and physical, that made it profoundly exciting.
He will be missed.
Incidentally, the director wanted someone "more German" than Olivier the be cast but the producer insisted on Olivier. He was right: there was no one more German than Olivier. Or more Jewish in another film. Or more English in others.
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