Which actor played police chief Martin Brody in Jaws?

Roy Scheider played police chief Martin Brody in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.

In the 1975 thriller, Brody is the chief of police on Amity Island, a New England resort community threatened by a man-eating great white shark. After the first attacks, Brody struggles against pressure from the mayor and local business interests, who fear that closing the beaches will damage the tourist economy.

Brody eventually joins forces with marine biologist Matt Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss, and shark hunter Quint, played by Robert Shaw. Their hunt takes them offshore aboard Quint’s boat, the Orca. Scheider’s grounded performance gives the film an ordinary civic authority figure whose fear is believable even as the danger becomes extraordinary.

The other major cast members are a frequent source of confusion: Robert Shaw is Quint, Richard Dreyfuss is Hooper, and Charlton Heston was not in Jaws. The film was adapted from Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel and became a landmark release widely associated with the rise of the summer blockbuster.