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The actress and stunt woman Susan Backlinie, whose portrayal of a violent death as the first shark attack victim in the opening scene of the blockbuster movie \u201cJaws\u201d terrified moviegoers, died on Saturday at her home in California. She was 77.<\/p>\n
Her agent, Sean Clark, confirmed the death, saying that she had suffered a heart attack. He did not specify where in California she lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cJaws,\u201d the 1975 movie directed by Steven Spielberg, memorably features Ms. Backlinie in a scene<\/a> in which she played a skinny-dipper, Chrissie Watkins, who runs along the beach and dives into the water for a nighttime swim.<\/p>\n The placid scene is shattered as she is suddenly pulled under the water. She screams while being violently thrashed by an unseen great white shark and tries desperately to cling to a clanging buoy only to be pulled below the water one final time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For the scene, Ms. Backlinie was secured to a harness, according to The Daily Jaws<\/a>, a website devoted to \u201cthe phenomenon, history, legacy and craft\u201d of \u201cJaws.\u201d The Palm Beach Post<\/a> reported that Ms. Backlinie was wearing a pair of jeans with metal plates stitched into the sides with cables attached.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cTo create the effect of being pulled through the water, Susan was tethered to a line anchored to the ocean floor beneath her and deliberately left unaware of when she would be submerged initially, aiming to elicit a more authentic surprise from her,\u201d The Daily Jaws reported.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Post in 2017, Ms. Backlinie recalled Mr. Spielberg telling her, \u201cWhen your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubble gum.\u201d<\/p>\n She said, \u201cI think we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n In \u201cJaws: The Inside Story\u201d documentary<\/a>, Mr. Spielberg described the sequence as \u201cone of the most dangerous\u201d stunts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe was actually being tugged left and right by 10 men on one rope and 10 men on the other back to the shore, and that\u2019s what caused her to move like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Richard Dreyfuss, who starred in the movie as the oceanographer Matt Hooper, explained in the documentary how Ms. Backlinie and Mr. Spielberg had added to the terror of the scene by later recording her screams.<\/p>\n Mr. Spielberg \u201chad her tilt her head back and he poured water down her throat while she screamed, which is now known as waterboarding,\u201d Mr. Dreyfuss said.<\/p>\n