He was best known for his role as police chief Martin Brody in the 1975 movie Jaws , his Academy Award nominated role ( but he did not win the award ) as Joe Gideon in the movie All That Jazz , and as Captain Nathan Bridger in Steven Spielberg 's Emmy Award winning television series seaQuest DSV . He was best known for his role as police chief Martin C. Brody in Jaws , as choreographer and film director Joe Gideon in All That Jazz , detective Buddy `` Cloudy '' Russo in The French Connection and his role as Captain Nathan Bridger in science fiction television series seaQuest DSV .