Actress Susan Backlinie, who played the first victim, Christine "Chrissie" Watkins in "Jaws" signs autographs in Edgartown, Mass. on Martha's Vineyard, Friday, June 3, 2005, after the opening ceremony for Jaws Fest 2005, a celebration event of the 30th anniversary of the movie going on June 3 through June 5 on Martha's Vineyard. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki)AP
Susan Backlinie, the actress featured during the iconic and terrifying opening scene of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster film “Jaws,” has passed away.
She was 77.
The Daily Jaws reported Backlinie, who worked as an actress and stuntwoman, died Saturday morning in Ventura, Calif., confirmed by her convention agent Matthew Templeton.
While Backlinie appeared in other films like “Day of the Animals” in 1977 and “The Great Muppet Caper” in 1981, as well as television series like “The Quest” and “The Fall Guy,” her most prominent role came at the start of her career when she played Chrissie Watkins in “Jaws.”
Now revered as one of Hollywood’s notable “Scream Queens,” Backlinie anchors the opening scene when her long blond-haired character Chrissie Watkins ditches a campfire to go for a late night swim in the ocean before she is attacked and pulled underwater by what we later learn is the shark terrorizing Amity Island’s beaches.
After her remains are discovered on the shore the next morning and a medical examiner determines a shark attack caused the death, Amity police chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) closes the beaches. Later, Brody along with shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) set off to find and kill the shark.
Backlinie’s horrifying performance, during which she shrieks in pain as she’s dragging across the water, established a needed tone the open the film, even terrifying some film fans from setting foot in the ocean again in the immediate future during summer 1975.
“When people find out I was the first girl to get eaten, they’re amazed,” Backlinie told “Inside Edition” in 2015, during the 40th anniversary of the release of “Jaws.”
“I realize the scene I did terrified everybody,” she told “Inside Edition.”
“And the one comment I get from everybody is, ‘You know, you kept me out of the water.’ And some of them even say I kept them out of the tub.”
Backlinie would retire from acting soon after “Jaws” to become an accountant.
“Jaws” is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. It grossed $476.5 million at the box office, pioneering what we now know as the modern summer blockbuster wherein movies become global events for mass audiences, releasing in thousands of theaters in hopes of creating huge profits.
It won three Academy Awards including best film editing, best original dramatic score and best sound. It was also nominated for best picture.
Backlinie also appeared in Spielberg’s comedy “1941,” in which she played “Polar Bear Woman,” a parody of her own “Jaws” character.
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Author Jeremy Wagner posted on Instgram about the news, sharing a photo of him with Backlinie and commenting on their encounter. “Sorry to hear of the passing of Susan Backlinie—best known for her unforgettable role as Chrissie Watkins, the very first shark attack victim in JAWS,” he wrote. “Glad I got to meet her once. She was super-cool and let me pick her brain all about her experience filming one of the most terrifying scenes in cinema history. Legend to this kid.”
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