Hollywood mourns as Susan Backlinie, the unforgettable first victim of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller “Jaws,” succumbed to a heart attack at her California residence this Saturday, aged 77. Her death was confirmed by her long-time husband, Harvey Swindall. “She was the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life. And I’ve never loved anybody like her,” an emotional Swindall shared.
In “Jaws,” Backlinie’s character, Chrissie Watkins, terrified audiences worldwide. The scene of her being dragged underwater during a midnight swim at Amity Island became an emblem of cinematic fear. Her character’s early demise led to the intense shark hunt that is central to the movie’s plot. Spielberg, reflecting on his casting choice, noted in Laurent Bouzereau’s “Spielberg: The First Ten Years,” “I didn’t want an actor to do it. I wanted a stunt person because I needed somebody who was great in the water… So, I went to stunts to find her, and Susan was up to the challenge.”
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RIP to Susan Backlinie, who played the first shark victim in #Jaws, who has died at age 77. I’ve seen this movie a gajillion times, and her utter terror is never anything but 100% convincing and horrifying to watch for me. If there was an Oscar for small roles, she’d get one. pic.twitter.com/m8aCjEwBtw
— Eric Ansley Diaz 🏳️🌈 (@GeekBoyEric) May 12, 2024
Backlinie, too, reminisced about her iconic role during a 2017 Palm Beach Post interview, saying, “[Spielberg] said to me, ‘When your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum.’ So, I think we did that.”
SAD NEWS: We are deeply saddened to share the news that #JAWS star Susan Backlinie aka Chrissie Watkins passed away earlier today, aged 77.
R.I.P. Susan. We'll miss you 💔🦈 #SheWasTheFirst pic.twitter.com/P67Dg16dLd
— The Daily Jaws (@thedailyjaws) May 11, 2024
The logistics behind her memorable death scene were complex. Last year, Backlinie described on “The Morning X with Barnes & Leslie” how the scene was orchestrated: “There were some pilings about 50 yards out on the beach, and they ran cables all the way from the beach out to the pilings in two shifts, then they put me between the two pilings, and they had guys on the beach, about five or six on each cable… The guys just ran back and forth from mark to mark,” detailing the technical setup at Martha’s Vineyard.
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Dispelling myths about on-set injuries, she added, “We would film from anywhere from 6 to 7 in the morning till 9 because of the light. … I was home and exhausted at the end of the day.”
Backlinie’s early life in West Palm Beach, where she was a freestyle swimming champion, prepared her for Hollywood, where she spent much of her career as a stuntwoman and later as an animal trainer. Her legacy includes the 1977 horror flick “Day of the Animals,” which resonated with similar themes to “Jaws.”