DAN'S PAPERS, May 16, 2008 Page 26 www.danshamptons.com
Roy
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Helen Hunt and Gordon Hunt
agreed to do a movie about a shark — and the rest is history,” said Eastman. Sag Harbor playwright Joe Pintauro recalled how he met Scheider 25 years ago at a party. “In all my years of meeting wonderful well-known actors, through my writing for off-Broadway shows, as time went on, these relationships got dimmer and dwindled out,” he said. “But with Roy it was different. To me it was like getting closer and closer to a great talent. In our long friendship, I learned how to be kind. He also taught me how to read, to learn and to listen.”
James Henry of Sag Harbor talked of Scheider’s political and community activism, joining him as he campaigned door to door while running for Southampton Town Supervisor. “Roy stood up on the anti-war movement, on issues of the environment and on education,” said Henry. “He cared about our community and our country, and he believed in dissent, involvement, and unselfish commitment.” Scheider’s makeup artist, Lou Lazzara, who also flew in from L.A., told of how Scheider asked him to go along to shoot a movie in Bulgaria, but that he wanted to stay home to attend the Emmy Awards. Lazzara had been nominated. “But if you don’t win an Emmy, you’ll miss a great trip to Bulgaria,” Scheider had quipped. “And if you do win the Emmy, you’ll have to go to a boring dinner and eat a bad chicken dinner. And you’ll still be missing a great trip to Bulgaria.” Lazzara ended up going to Bulgaria, and that, “It only takes six minutes to do his makeup—what he really likes is the way I make cappuccino. But I didn’t take the machine on the plane. And I also didn’t win the Emmy.” Finally, Brenda and Roy’s children, Molly and Christian Scheider, spoke about their father. “Dad told me he grew as a person, as he grew as an actor,” said Christian, who graduated from the Hayground School which his parents helped to found, and is on his way to Bard College. “I learned from him that mis-
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takes are your strengths, and that your art is as much a part of your reality.” Molly Scheider, who will be starting the eighth grade at Hayground School, recalled how her father was “very loving and overprotective” and how “seeing him in the movies makes me want to be an actor like him.” Throughout the service, Christian joined his friends from Ghana for traditional drumming, and singer Ann Moller, Roy Scheider’s goddaughter, gave a song tribute to him. Composer Bruce Wolosoff played a piano piece in his memory. In Roy’s honor, contributions to Hayground School Scholarship Fund can be sent to P.O. Box 1827, Bridgehampton, NY 11932.
Donna Karan and friends
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