FILM FATES
Where the Jaws cast are now – from sexual harassment scandal to booze battle and tragic deaths
IT was the groundbreaking movie that made Stephen Spielberg a household name and terrified beachgoers across the world.
Almost half a century on, one of the child actors from Jaws has become the Chief of Police in the very town where the classic movie was shot.
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Jonathan Searle, the child prankster who donned a fake fin in one of the most memorable scenes, was voted into the top cop position at Oaks Bluffs in Massachusetts.
Now 56, the child star turned his back on a movie career to join the police service in his local area and is patrolling the very beach he terrorised in the film.
But what happened to the rest of the cast of the movie?
From tragic deaths to a child sex offence charge, here’s where the Jaws cast are now.
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Tragic death after alcohol battle
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Robert Shaw was an established star, with lead roles in A Man For All Seasons and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three under his belt when he starred as shark-hunter Quint.
But the British actor was also in the grips of alcoholism during filming and was often drunk.
At one point he drank so much he blacked out and had to be carried back on to the set.
Tragically, he died just three years after the film’s release, at the age of 51, after suffering a heart attack as he drove from Castlebar, County Mayo, to his home in Tourmakeady, with wife Virgina and son Thomas in the car.
Shaw’s son Ian recently turned the experiences of the leading actors on the set of Jaws into a hit West End play, The Shark is Broken, in which he played his famous dad.
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Sexual harassment claims
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Richard Dreyfuss shot to fame in American Graffiti before landing the role of Hooper in Jaws.
The Brooklyn-born star, who fell out with Robert Shaw on the movie, went on to win a Best Actor Oscar for the 1978 film The Goodbye Girl and starred in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Mr Holland’s Opus.
He recently starred opposite Mira Sorvino in Crime Story.
In 2017, writer Jessica Teich accused Dreyfuss of sexual harassment during the filming of an ABC special.
Twice married Dreyfuss, now 74, denied the allegations, saying he had been overly flirtatious in his past, and that he regretted that behaviour, but he emphasised that "I value and respect women" and said he is "not an assaulter".
The same year, his son Harry accused Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him in 2008 when he was directing Dreyfuss in a production of Complicit at the the Old Vic.
Cancer death
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As Chief Brody, Roy Scheider delivered the classic line, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
He was Oscar-nominated for his roles in 1971's The French Connection and the 1979 musical, All That Jazz, and went on to have a distinguished career in film and TV, including starring opposite Sean Connery in the 1990 moves The Russia House.
The dad-of-three died in 2008, at the age of 75, after a long battle against cancer.
Child sex charge
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Jay Mello was a five-year-old Oaks Bluff native when he was chosen to play Sean, the youngest child of Chief Brody, and it is his only screen credit.
In 2009, he was charged with lewd conduct with a child after being accused by a nine-year-old and was given probation.
A year later he was still working as a janitor at Lyndon State College, Vermont but was accused of acting “creepy” by some younger children visiting the site. He was jailed for violation of probation.
Death at 37
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Chris Rebello played Brody’s older son Michael in the movie and featured in the famous scene where he is stranded on a tiny boat as the shark circles.
He stayed in the local area where he became a landscaper then a football coach.
Tragically, the married dad-of-three died after suffering a massive heart attack while deer hunting with friends, in 2000. He was just 37.
Animal trainer
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While her part in the movie wasn’t long, Susan Backlinie is difficult to forget as Chrissie Watkins - the very first shark attack victim.
In fact she was a stuntwoman and Jaws was her first acting credit.
Her role in Jaws took just three days to shoot and she went on to parody the scene in Spielberg’s movie 1941.
As well as her acting and stunt work, Susan was an animal trainer and owned the very bear whose growls were used as the voice of Chewbacca in Star Wars.
Now 75, she gave up acting in 1982 and worked as a computer accountant in Ventura, California.
Human rights activist
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Lorraine Gary, who played Brody’s wife Ellen, starred in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden in 1977 and had a recurring role in the TV series Ironside from ’68 to ’73.
She also appeared in the sequels, Jaws 2 and Jaws: Revenge but retired from acting after the release of the latter, in 1997.
Instead she concentrated on work as an activist, spending years on the Human Rights Watch Women’s Rights Advisory Committee, producing and directing educational videos.
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She and her husband, entertainment executive Sidney Sheinberg, who she married at 19, were awarded the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Humanitarian Award in 1995.
Both their sons, Bill Sheinberg and Jonathan Sheinberg, are film producers.
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