Jeffrey Voorhees now 63, he went on to manage a seafood restaurant on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where hit movie was filmed
He was the victim of one of the most gruesome attacks in film history which had cinemagoers fainting and throwing up in the aisles. And as Jaws celebrates its 50th anniversary, actor Jeffrey Voorhees reveals he’s still making a killing from his screen death 50 years later.
The actor was only 12 when he was hired to play youngster Alex Kintner, who was ripped to pieces in a spray of blood by the killer shark as he floated on his raft.
Now, five decades on, Jeffrey is flown to Jaws conventions all over the world, hosts guided tours of the island where the film was made and makes personalised videos for obsessed fans.
Meanwhile enthusiasts flock to his website to pay for autographed photographs of his grizzly death, as well as t-shirts, mugs and limited edition signed replica rafts at £107 a pop.
Jeffrey, 62, says: “It pays to die. I was a 12 year-old kid who was in the movie for like a minute, but there are some real Jaws fanatics out there.
“One guy in England just bought 125 photos. I do signings. They fly me all over the world and pay me in cash at those things – around £10,000 a time.
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“There are Jaws tours and people pay double if I’m on them and next month I’m appearing at three Meet, Greet and Mingle Parties.
“I still get paid every time the film appears on TV. My brother lives in Portugal and I’ll get texts from him going: ‘good news, you just died on TV over here. You’ll get another cheque.’”
Until recently Jeffrey ran a restaurant selling Alex Kintner burgers and fans also pay him to record personal Cameo videos.
He says: “I did one yesterday from the beach where I died and said: ‘Hey! From your dear wife and the dead Alex Kintner – happy birthday!’
‘People seem to like it, although I had a strange one last year. A family got in touch and said: ‘our father was a big Jaws fan and he died on the couch watching the movie, can you send your regrets.’
“I went: ‘what the hell is this?’ But I decided I’d do it and went down to the beach to record it.
“I said: ‘hey, your father and I had a little something in common. He died watching me die. This is the dead Alex Kintner, Jeff Voorhees, here on Martha’s Vineyard – Amity Island. Just want to say – have a Jawesome funeral.’
“I thought they’d be annoyed, but they gave me a five star review.’
“At first, I used to hide from the fact that I’d been in Jaws and then finally I realised I could make some good money and make people happy.”
Released in June 1975 and based on the Peter Benchley novel, Jaws was an instant blockbuster. The story of a terrifying man-eating great white shark, it sparked a dramatic drop in beach attendances the world over.
It quickly became the highest-grossing film ever. Almost a third of America’s population flocked to the cinema to see it – more than 67 million people – and an audience of 23m tuned in when it was shown for the first time on UK television in 1981.
Jeffrey played the shark’s second victim and it’s youngest. Audiences were left gasping in horror at the sound of his gargles as the shark pulled him underwater, before moments later the bloody remnants of his punctured yellow inflatable floated ashore.
He only landed the iconic role by chance, after signing up to be an extra, but immediately found himself working alongside Hollywood greats including Steven Spielberg –making one of his first big feature films and movie stars Richard Dreyfuss (marine biologist Matt Hooper) and Robert Shaw (shark hunter Quint).
But Jeffrey says notorious alcoholic Robert Shaw wasn’t impressed to find himself acting alongside children.
Jeffrey says: “Spielberg felt bad for all the kids because we were freezing cold and he set up some cook-outs and baseball games, so we’d be out there playing baseball with Richard Dreyfuss.
“Robert Shaw would be sitting over by the fire, far away from everyone. We were just little kids and we went: ‘oh, let’s go say hello to him.’
“We all ran up and he sounded just like he did in the movie. We could smell booze and he went: ‘get away from me you little s***s!’ He wanted nothing to do with us!”
Set in the fictional American beach town of Amity Island, Jaws was filmed on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where Jeffrey still lives today.
“We heard rumours that they were making a movie and were paying $40 a day to be an extra,” Jeffrey recalls.
“We all signed up and then a few days later I was called in by Steven Spielberg, who asked me to read a few lines and then made me sign a ton of papers.
“He said I was joining the Screen Actors Guild because I’d got a speaking part and was going to be paid $140 a day. That’s pretty good when you’re 12 years old.”
Initially Alex’s death involved a dummy filled with fake blood and organs which the shark tore apart.
The Jaws team even added screams and the sound of bones crushing to make it as horrifying as possible, but when the scene was shown at a test screening in 1975, filmgoers fainted and threw up.
Jeffrey says: “It was too hardcore. So, they changed it and asked me to swim out to a barrel filled with blood.
“They said: ‘lie on top of it and when it explodes in the air go under the water and stay under for as long as you can.’
“Spielberg was only 27 and he wanted everything perfect, so he went: ‘your arm came out of the water, we’ve got to do it again.’
“We had to wait seven hours for the blood to clear out of the water before we could try again. We did it again and this time my leg came out of the water.
“Five days later he said: ‘right ok, this is getting too long. We’ve got two guys in wetsuits and this time when it explodes, they’ll each grab a leg and lift you in and out of the water a few times. They’re then going to pull you under and give you air.’
“People always say: ‘were you afraid of the shark?’ I’m like: ‘no, I was afraid of freezing my 12 year-old ass off!’”
After Jaws, Jeffrey appeared in the popular American TV series Santa Barbara and the film One More Shot before becoming manager of a seafood restaurant.
He retired last year, but admits his work with Jaws still keeps him busy. He says: “I went to a fan convention in Manchester a few years ago. There was a man who’d been waiting there since 2am and had Jaws tattoos all over him. He said he had one spot left and asked me to sign inside the shark’s mouth. He then went off to get my autograph tattooed there permanently.”
Although the film is now 50, it’s terrifying legacy remains. Jeffrey says: “My nephew watched Jaws when he was ten. We went to the water a couple of weeks later and he said: ‘I’m not going in there; I don’t want to be eaten by a shark.’ He wouldn’t go in the sea for a whole summer!”