The swimmer who was the first victim in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws has died.
Susan Backlinie died at her home in California at the age of 77, according to her agent. Her death was first reported by The Daily Jaws website.
The opening scene of Steven SpielbergThe classic shows Mrs. Backlinie running down the beach before diving into the water and skinny dipping.
Her character, Chrissie Watkins, is suddenly pulled underwater and screams as she is violently attacked by an invisible great white shark.
Ms. Backlinie had been a champion swimmer when she was cast in the film. She told The Palm Beach Post in 2015 that Spielberg told her: “When you finish your scene, I want everyone under the seats with popcorn and bubblegum.
“I think we did it,” he said.
In the documentary, Jaws: The Inside Story, Spielberg called the Backlinie sequence “one of the most dangerous stunts” he has ever directed.
“Actually, 10 men with one rope and 10 men with the other were dragging it towards the shore from left to right, and that’s what made it move like that.”
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Backlinie worked with Spielberg again on the 1979 war film parody 1941, in which he parodied his Jaws character.
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