WEEKI WACHEE GARDENS, Fla. — Susan Backlinie, the famed "Jaws" actress and stuntwoman who played the shark's first victim, has died. She was 77 years old.
Her agent confirmed to The Daily Jaws, a website dedicated to the movie, that Backlinie passed away early Saturday morning at her home in Ventura, Calif.
The website details Backlinie's dedication to the scene that kicked off the entire phenomenon surrounding Steven Spielberg's 1975 cult classic. Her performance as an unsuspecting skinny dipper included a harness and a line pulling her back and forth in 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," The Daily Jaws wrote.
In a 2017 interview, Backlinie told The Palm Beach Post: "The first thing [Spielberg] said to me was, ‘When your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum'...So I think we did that."
The career stuntwoman was born on Sept. 1, 1946. When she was 10 years old, she moved with her family to West Palm Beach where she would become a cheerleader and state swimming champion, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Palm Beach Post describes Backlinie's time as a performer in the Tampa Bay area and an animal trainer throughout Florida. According to the publication, she swam as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs and worked with wild animals at the Miami facility made famous by "Flipper."
"We are saddened to learn of the passing of Susan. The Weeki family is keeping her family and friends in our thoughts," Weeki Wachee Springs State Park wrote on Facebook.
