Susan Backlinie, an actress and stuntwoman who played the first person eaten by the shark in Jaws, has died.
Backlinie passed away at home in Ventura, California, on Saturday. She was 77 years old.
Matthew Templeton, her convention agent, told The Daily Jaws that the news was true.
โIt is with heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved Susan passed away this morning,โ he said.
โWe want to thank everyone who sent their condolences at this time.
โPlease respect the familyโs privacy during this difficult time.โ
She was best known for her role as Chrissie Watkins in Steven Speilbergโs 1975 movie Jaws.
It was when she was 28 years old that the nationally ranked swimmer and professional diver played the victim of skinny-dipping.
For a while, Backlinie worked with animals and water before the movie found her.
The stunt woman worked as a mermaid at Floridaโs Weeki Wachee Springs tourist attraction and had done work with many wild animals, such as a tiger and a bear.
Backlinie was going after her first movie because she knew Spielberg would be interested in something no other actress could offer.
โIf you hire me, you might get close-ups of the stunt itself.โ He told the director, โIf you hire an actress, sheโll have to cover her face.โ
โI went to stunts to find the perfect stuntwoman, and Susan was up to the task,โ Spielberg wrote in Laurent Bouzerauโs book Spielberg: The First Ten Years.
Backlinie talked about what Spielberg told her before they filmed the famous scene in an interview in 2017.
โThe first thing he said to me was, โWhen your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and the bubblegum,โโ she told The Post.
A lot of people have paid tribute to the actress and stuntwoman on social media, with a lot of focus on her role in Jaws.
โSusan was a loving and kind person, and the Jaws community will miss her very much,โ said Jeffrey Kramer, who also played Susan on the show.
โShe has a special place in our hearts.โ
One fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), โRest in peace to Susan Backlinie. Her Chrissie Watkins in โJawsโ had the most memorable tug on the leg in movie history.โ
Another fan said, โShe has to go down in movie history,โ and a third said, โShe did an unbelievable job that made the whole world afraid of the ocean.โ
A lot of people have said nice things about her, like โscream queen legendโ and โclass act.โ
One man even said that her role helped him with his lifelong job of looking for sharks.
โSusan will be remembered forever and immortalized as the first victim of the great white shark of Jaws fame,โ the fan wrote on The Daily Jaws when they reported her death.
โAs a kid of 11, it made me interested in GW sharks for some reason.โ
โNow 61, I have cage dived in South Africa and Australia recording over 29 different GW sharks, rip Susan, thank you, Susan.โ
