Susan Backlinie, 77, passed away at home in California, according to her representative. The news website broke the initial news of her demise.
When her fictional character, Chrissie Watkins, is abruptly dragged beneath the surface, she screams and is viciously attacked by a great white shark that isn’t visible.
When Ms. Backlinie was cast for the movie, she was a champion swimmer. “After your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum,” Spielberg reportedly ordered her, according to her 2015 interview with The Palm Beach Post.
She answered, “I think we did that.”
Spielberg’s sequence in Jaws: The Inside Story is referred to as Ms. Backlinie’s sequence.
