She died on May 11 of this year.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Jaws
peter1221 — 1 year ago(June 22, 2024 08:12 PM)
She died on May 11 of this year.
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/susan-backlinie-dead-jaws-1235999530/
Susan Backlinie, who played the first shark attack victim in Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” has died. She was 77.
Backlinie died Saturday morning at her California home due to a heart attack, Convention All Stars owner Sean Clark confirmed to Variety. The former actor and stuntwoman was one of the company’s clients.
Backlinie was best known for her role as Chrissie Watkins in “Jaws,” who is dragged to her death by a killer shark in the 1975 film’s iconic opening scene. Backlinie specialized in swimming work as a stunt performer.
Contrary to widespread belief, Backlinie’s screams of anguish in the “Jaws” opening scene were not due to her being injured by the harness that jerked her back and forth. However, no one warned Backlinie when she would be pulled underwater in order to get a genuine reaction from her.