RIP: Actor Roy Scheider Dead At 75, Shark Not Involved
Roy Scheider, a stage actor with a background in the classics who became one of the leading figures in the American film renaissance of the 1970s, died on Sunday afternoon in Little Rock, Ark. He was 75 and lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y. Mr. Scheider had suffered from multiple myeloma for several years, and died of complications from a staph infection, his wife, Brenda Seimer, said. Mr. Scheider’s rangy figure, gaunt face and emotional openness made him particularly appealing in everyman roles, most famously as the agonized police chief of “Jaws,” Steven Spielberg’s 1975 breakthrough hit, about a New England resort town haunted by the knowledge that a killer shark is preying on the local beaches. Mr. Scheider conveyed an accelerated metabolism in movies like “Klute” (1971), his first major film role, in which he played a threatening pimp to Jane Fonda’s New York call girl; and in William Friedkin’s “French Connection” (also 1971), as Buddy Russo, the slightly more restrained partner to Gene Hackman’s marauding police detective, Popeye Doyle. That role earned Mr. Scheider the first of two Oscar nominations. [via NEW YORK TIMES]
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UPSTATE: Snow Squall Causes 68-Car Pile-Up In Pennsyltucky, One Dead
HAZLETON, Pa. – A blinding snow squall caused a 68-vehicle pileup on an interstate highway in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing at least one motorist and injuring several dozen, authorities said. The snow led to the mid-afternoon pileup on Interstate 81. Northbound lanes were shut down and motorists detoured. A woman died when her car became wedged underneath a tractor-trailer, said Lt. Jason Zoshak of Hazleton Township Fire and Rescue. About 35 people were injured. And at least 24 people whose cars were not drivable were placed in shelters. “They had a heavy snow squall going through the area, zero visibility, high winds,” he said. “There were vehicles everywhere.” Eighteen people were taken to Hazleton General Hospital, where most were being treated for minor injuries. [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
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BLUE MEANIES: Macca Facing Biggest Divorce Settlement In British Legal History
Heather Mills will be able to cross-examine Sir Paul McCartney personally over his multimillion-pound earnings when the estranged couple go to court today to hammer out a final divorce settlement. In a bold – some say reckless – move, Ms Mills will be acting [as her own lawyer] at the High Court private hearing after falling out with her lawyers Mishcon de Reya, to whom she owes an estimated £2 million in legal fees. Previous attempts at a settlement foundered over Ms Mills’s refusal to agree to be bound by confidentiality clauses preventing her from writing or talking about the couple’s four-year marriage. Sir Paul is believed to have offered Ms Mills a lump sum in the region of £20 million, as well as an annual payment of some £2.5 million until the couple’s daughter, Beatrice, reaches 18 – a total package worth £55 million from his estimated £825 million fortune. But the deal depends on her agreement to a confidentiality clause. Ms Mills is reported to be pushing for a package worth nearer £70 million to £80 million. The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice will be behind closed doors but if either side then appeals against the judge’s decision, a hearing in the Court of Appeal would be in public. [via THE TIMES OF LONDON]