The Shark's First Victim: Susan Backlinie's Jaws Legacy

When Steven Spielberg’s Jaws hit theaters in 1975, one scene permanently altered the way audiences felt about swimming in the ocean. It wasn’t the mechanical shark that terrified viewers—it was the raw, visceral attack that opened the film, and the woman whose name became synonymous with that unforgettable moment.

Susan Backlinie was just 27 years old when she rose to fame as Chrissie, the shark attack victim in that brutal opening sequence. As an actress and stuntwoman, she brought a terrifying authenticity to the role that launched a thousand nightmares and made Jaws the cultural phenomenon it became. Backlinie shared the screen with Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, and Lorraine Gary in what would become one of cinema’s most iconic blockbusters—a film that didn’t just entertain audiences, it fundamentally changed how people approached beach season.

What made Backlinie’s contribution so significant wasn’t just the shock value of that opening attack. It was the foundation she laid for everything that followed. Her character’s death gave the entire film its stakes, its urgency, its reason to exist. Without that opening moment, Jaws becomes a very different movie. The audience needed to feel the shark’s threat as something real, something that had already claimed a life. Backlinie delivered that in seconds.

Beyond Jaws, Backlinie carved out a career in Hollywood that showcased her range and willingness to take on challenging physical roles. She appeared in films like Day of the Animals, 1941, and The Great Muppet Caper—work that proved she was far more than a one-scene wonder. She was a professional stuntwoman and actress with skills that extended well beyond that fateful opening scene.

Susan Backlinie passed away in 2024, leaving behind a legacy that extends far beyond a single film. But for generations of moviegoers, her name will forever be linked to that moment when cinema found a new way to terrify audiences—and proved that sometimes the most powerful scenes are the ones that happen before the credits even roll.