Susan Backlinie
| Susan Backlinie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Susan Jane Swindall September 1, 1946 Ventura, California |
| Occupation | Actress, stuntwoman |
| Years active | 1973–1981 |
| Notable work | Christine "Chrissie" Watkins in Peter Benchley's Jaws (1975) |
| Spouse(s) | William Seale (?–present) Monty Cox (?–?) |
Susan Backlinie (born Susan Jane Swindall on September 1, 1946) is a former actress and stuntwoman. She is known for her role as Chrissie Watkins, the first shark victim in Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster Jaws.
Along with being a stuntwoman specializing in swimming work, she was also an animal trainer. She currently works as a computer accountant in her birthplace of Ventura, California.
Backlinie's appearance in Jaws took three days to shoot, with Backlinie strapped into a harness while the crew struggled to get the desired effects. Backlinie also appeared in Spielberg's film 1941 parodying her role in Jaws. Instead of being attacked by a shark during a midnight swim, she's "picked up" by the periscope of a Japanese submarine. The scene has been described as the best joke in what is otherwise widely considered one of Spielberg's least successful films. Backlinie also appeared in the 1977 film Day of the Animals, regarded by some as a Jaws clone about nature gone bad.
When Jaws co-star Richard Dreyfuss saw a daily of her performance of being attacked by the shark, he told her it absolutely terrified him.
Originally, the shot of the shark attack in which Backlinie was involved had to be shot several times, because she was unable to produce the intended reaction. Therefore, the next filming day, the attack scene was shot again, only this time, Backlinie was not told when she would be "attacked". When the diver below her grabbed onto and pulled her leg, submerging her, she gave a genuine scared reaction, and the shot was left in the final product, as it was exactly what Spielberg was looking for.
She appeared in her own pictorial ("The Lady and the Lion") in the January 1973 issue of Penthouse magazine.
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