LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) ¿ Roy Scheider, a one-time boxer whose broken nose and pugnacious acting style made him a star in "The French Connection" and who later uttered one of cinematic history's most memorable roles in "Jaws'', has died.

Scheider died on Sunday at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock, hospital spokesman David Robinson said. He was 75.

The hospital did not release a cause of death, but Scheider had been treated for multiple myeloma at the hospital's Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy for the past two years.

Scheider earned two Academy Award nominations ¿ a best-supporting nod for 1971's "The French Connection" in which he played the police partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman, and a best-actor nomination for 1979s "All That Jazz'', the semi-autobiographical Bob Fosse film.

But he was perhaps best known for his role as a small-town police chief in Steven Spielberg's 1975 film "Jaws'', about a killer shark terrorising beachgoers ¿ as well as millions of moviegoers.

In 2005, one of Scheider's most famous lines in the movie ¿ "You're gonna need a bigger boat" ¿ was voted number 35 on the American Film Institute's list of best quotes from US movies.

Widely hailed as the film that launched the era of the Hollywood blockbuster, "Jaws" was the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office.

"I've been fortunate to do what I consider three landmark films," he told The Associated Press in 1986. "'The French Connection' spawned a whole era of the relationship between two policemen, based on an enormous amount of truth about working on the job."

'"Jaws' was the first big, blockbuster outdoor-adventure film. And certainly 'All That Jazz' is not like any old MGM musical. Each one of these films is unique, and I consider myself fortunate to be associated with them."

Born into a working class family in Orange, New Jersey, he was stricken with rheumatic fever at six. He spent long periods in bed, becoming a voracious reader. Except for a slight heart murmur, he was pronounced cured at 17. He acquired the distinctive shape of his nose in an amateur boxing match.

After three years in the Air Force, Scheider sought a New York theatre career in 1960. His debut came a year later as Mercutio in the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of "Romeo and Juliet''. He also played minor roles in such films as "Paper Lion" and "Stiletto''. Then he made a breakthrough in 1971 as Jane Fonda's pimp in "Klute''.

"He was a wonderful guy. He was what I call 'a knockaround actor,"' Richard Dreyfuss, who co-starred with Scheider and Robert Shaw in "Jaws'', told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"A 'knockaround actor' to me is a compliment that means a professional that lives the life of a professional actor and doesn't' yell and scream at the fates and does his job and does it as well as he can," Dreyfuss said.

He also appeared in the films "Marathon Man'', as Dustin Hoffman's brother, "Klute'', with Jane Fonda, and "Naked Lunch'', David Cronenberg's adaptation of William S. Burroughs's novel. He starred in "Jaws 2'', which turned out not to be as successful as the original.

TV roles included "SeaQuest DSV" and "Third Watch''.

More recently, he played the slick CEO of an insurance company that denies coverage to a young man dying of leukemia in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rainmaker'', and appeared in the direct-to-video "Dracula II: Ascension" and "Dracula III: Legacy''.

Scheider was also politically active.

He participated in rallies protesting US military action in Iraq, including a massive New York demonstration in March 2003 that police said drew 125,000 chanting activists.

Although "Jaws" frightened some moviegoers out of the water for years, Scheider told the AP in 1986 that he considered his role somewhat comedic.