Susan Backlinie is the swimmer in the opening scene who becomes the first victim of the shark in “Jaws” (1975).
Contrary to rumor, Backlinie’s startled reaction and screams of anguish were not due to her being injured by the harness that yanked her back and forth in the water.
However, she was attached to a line that was anchored to the ocean floor beneath her, and she was intentionally not warned when she would be first pulled underwater.
This helped provoke a more genuine expression of surprise from her initially, but the remainder of her performance was her own as an actress.
There were two 300 pound weights attached to Backlinie that were being tugged by two groups of crewmen on shore.
One group would pull right, and the other would pull left. It took three days to film that sequence.
To create the sound of a drowning woman during post-production, Backlinie was positioned, head upturned, in front of a microphone, while water from above was poured down into her throat.
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.
She later spoofed this scene in Steven Spielberg’s “1941” (1979) but encounters a Japanese submarine instead of a toothy fish. (IMDb/Wikipedia)
Happy Birthday, Susan Backlinie!