Cue the music and the mechanical shark. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first-ever summer blockbuster, “Jaws.”
Based on Peter Benchleyโs 1974 novel of the same name, “Jaws” follows what happens on an island off the coast of New England after a great white shark wreaks havoc on their beach. Steven Spielberg directed the movie, known for its blend of special effects, cinematography and powerful acting.
The winner of three Academy Awards, including best original score for that still omnipresent music, “Jaws” was a critical and commercial hit and influenced the way films are marketed to this day.
Where is the star-studded cast of “Jaws” now? Letโs look at what they all did following the famed film.
Roy Scheider (Sheriff Brody)
Roy Scheider delivered that legendary line, โYouโre going to need a bigger boat.” He told journalist Paul Iorio how it came about.
“That was in the script. The first time he sees the shark … But I liked the line so much, it amused me so much, that I said, โI bet I could work this in in a few other places.โ So I worked it in two more times,” he said in an interview that ran eventually in the Huffington Post in 2015, after being conducted in 2000.
He went on to reprise his role as police chief Martin Brody in “Jaws 2.”
Following decades of working in film and television, Scheider passed away at the age of 75 of cancer in 2008.
Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody)
Lorraine Gary came out of acting retirement to reprise her role of Ellen Brody, the police chief’s wife, for “Jaws 2” and “Jaws: The Revenge.”
She was married to the late Sidney Sheinberg, a movie executive who gave Steven Spielberg his first directing gig.
Richard Dreyfuss (Matt Hooper)
After “Jaws,” Richard Dreyfuss went on to star in several notable films, including “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “What About Bob?”
At 77, this Academy Award winner continues to act. Recent credits include “Book Club” and playing Bernie Madoff in a miniseries, both out in 2016.
He told USA TODAY in 2025 he thought “Jaws” would be a flop.
โI thought it was going to be a disaster,โ he said. โBecause I couldnโt imagine how Steven was going to overcome all of the problems that he faced every day. I know I went on at least one talk show where I said this is a total disaster. And then I went back on that same show and pronounced myself the stupidest actor in America.
Dreyfuss had to miss an appearance at SharkCon, a shark-themed fan convention, earlier this year after being diagnosed with bronchitis.
Robert Shaw (Captain Quint)
Before his magnetic performance as Captain Quint in “Jaws,” the English actor Robert Shaw was in an array of movies like “The Sting” and “From Russia with Love.” Shaw was also a notable playwright and author.
Shaw died of a heart attack at 51 in 1978. His son, Ian, portrayed his father in “The Shark is Broken,” a Broadway play centered around the tumultuous “Jaws” production.
Murray Hamilton (Mayor Larry Vaughn)
Character actor Murray Hamilton was in movies like “The Graduate,” “The Way We Were” and “The Hustler” before “Jaws,” and was even more known for his TV appearances.
He reprised her role in “Jaws 2,” and also collaborated with Spielberg in “The Amityville Horror” and “1941.” He died in 1986 at 63, not long before “Jaws: The Revenge” was to begin filming.
Susan Backlinie (Chrissie Watkins)
Known for playing the first victim in the opening beach party scene in “Jaws,” Susan Backlinie was a veteran stuntwoman, actor and animal trainer.
Years later, she looked back on the scene in an interview with Remind Magazine, dedicated to pop culture nostalgia.
“They put a pair of cutoff jeans on me and hooked cables up to the side. At night Iโd stop and think, ‘You know, thatโs exactly what calls sharks to you: flailing, stopping, flailing.’ I kind of felt like shark bait,” she said.
She died from a heart attack at the age of 77 in 2024.
Lee Fierro (Mrs. Kintner)
As a longtime resident of Marthaโs Vineyard, where “Jaws” was filmed, Lee Fierro mentored over a thousand young theater actors under the Island Theatre Workshop, the Martha’s Vineyard Times reported.
She returned to the franchise with a brief cameo in “Jaws: The Revenge” but later moved to Ohio to be closer to family. She passed away from COVID-related complications in 2020 at the age of 91.
Jeffrey Voorhees (Alex Kintner)
At 12, Jeffrey Voorhees, a Martha’s Vineyard native, was cast in the movie as the shark’s second victim.
He’s now the manager of a restaurant called The Wharf, also on the Vineyard. According to the Martha’s Vineyard Times, Voorhees often interacts with “Jaws” fans who want to meet Alex Kinter … alive and well.
