The first shark victim in the “Jaws” franchise, actress Susan Backlinie died at the age of 77 at her home in California on Saturday. She had played the role of Chrissie Watkins in the Steven Spielberg-directed thriller. The news of her death was released by her agent Sean Clark on The New York Times and Variety and revealed her heart attack as a cause of her death.
Backlinie played a great role as Watkins who was a young woman who loves swimming and goes for a free-spirited swim in the ocean in the “Jaws”. This swimming become a suspense when “Watkins” got attacked by a monstrous shark and her aquatic fun come to a shuddering halt when she killed by this attack.
“Jaws” was released in June 1975 which became popular from very first day of release by crossing $260 million at the global box office. “Jaws” also received a trio of Academy Awards in 1976 and this lead to release of its three sequels: “Jaws 2” (1978), “Jaws 3-D” (1983) and “Jaws: The Revenge” (1987).
For Backlinie, “Jaws” was her cinematic debut and after that actress got many chance in the films of 70s and 80s such as “The Grizzly & the Treasure,” “A Stranger in My Forest,” “1941” and “The Great Muppet Caper.” She has also scored guest roles on the TV series “The Quest,” “Quark” and “The Fall Guy,” according to her IMDb page.
Other than this, she had also worked as a stuntwoman in the films “The Villian” and “Image of the Beast”.