Susan Backlinie, actress from iconic scene in ‘Jaws,’ dies at 77

(NEXSTAR) – Susan Backlinie, perhaps best known to cinephiles as the first victim in the 1975 blockbuster “Jaws,” has died. She was 77.

Sean Clark of Convention All Stars, of which Backlinie was a client, confirmed her passing over the weekend.

“I worked with her for about 15 years and she was one of the nicest most easy going people I’ve ever dealt with,” he wrote Sunday on Facebook. “She will be missed.”

Backlinie’s scene in “Jaws,” during which she’s attacked by an unseen shark while skinny-dipping off Amity Island, is considered to be one of the most thrilling in the franchise. The effect was reportedly accomplished by pulling Backlinie via an underwater harness (and having crew members yank her back and forth), with the actress screaming and violently thrashing through the water.

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A former champion swimmer and diver, Backlinie was chosen for the role of Chrissie Watkins by Steven Spielberg because he needed someone who could handle herself in the water, according to The Hollywood Reporter, citing comments Spielberg gave to the author of a 2023 book.

Prior to her role, Backlinie had also worked at the Weeki Wachee State Springs in Florida as one of the attraction’s “mermaid” performers, Nexstar’s WFLA previously reported.

Aside from “Jaws,” Backlinie’s IMDb credits include “Day of the Animals,” “The Great Muppet Caper” and Spielberg’s “1941,” in which she spoofs her “Jaws” role. (In “1941,” however, it’s not a shark that interrupts her skinny-dipping session, but rather a Japanese submarine.)

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Backlinie remained proud of her work decades after the film debuted, telling the Palm Beach Post in 2017 that she believed she gave Spielberg exactly what he was looking for.

“The first thing [Spielberg] said to me was, ‘When your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum,” she told the outlet in 2017. “So I think we did that.”

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