American actor Roy Scheider has died in hospital in Arkansas, aged 75 after a two-year battle with cancer.

The Hollywood star, was twice nominated for Oscars in the 70s – for The French Connection in ’72 and All That Jazz in ’79 as well as being most famed for playing the police chief in blockbuster Jaws.

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Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, released in 1975, was the first film to earn over $100 million at the box-office, setting a precedent for summer blockbusters.

Scheider’s Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss said: “He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call a knockaround actor.

“A knockaround actor to me is a compliment that means a professional that lives the life of a professional actor and doesn’t yell and scream at the fates and does his job and does it as well as he can.”

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Scheider passed away in hospital after being treated for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell.