When we were in Ireland, filming THE DOORWAY, Roy Scheider and I had a lot of late night discussions about "the business".
We both agreed that THE RUSSIA HOUSE began the downward slide of his career. It's not that he shouldn't have taken the role, but he should not have accepted the below-the-title billing unless it was a special billing (e.g. "and Roy Scheider as...") the same size as Connery & Pfiefer.
Indeed, career-wise, billing is more important than money in this business.