Robert Shaw

Robert Shaw An actor's life on the set of Jaws and beyond

Christopher Shaw Myers

Book - 2025

"Robert Shaw unforgettably commanded attention as the weathered seaman Captain Quint in the blockbuster sensation, Jaws. But what came before and after that landmark film is as dramatic as the hunt for the great white shark itself. Capturing the many facets of the vibrant, generous, and sometimes polarizing man is his nephew, Christopher, who explores the forces that shaped a dynamic personality--including Robert's indomitable mother, his deeply troubled father, and his activist sister, Joanna, with whom Robert shared an unbreakable bond. Out of the traumatic events of their childhood in the Orkney Islands and Cornwall, Mrs. Shaw pushed her children to pursue their dreams. For Robert, that dream was acting and writing. Despite a s...toried career on the British and American stage--as both performer and playwright--and a string of hit films including From Russia with Love, A Man for All Seasons, The Sting, and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, international celebrity eluded Robert . . . until he was summoned to star in 'a little horror film' called Jaws. What happened on-screen was unforgettable. What happened off-screen was chaos. Now Christopher Shaw Myers reveals the true story of the making of the classic. Jaws would become both an artistic success and a worldwide triumph for Robert Shaw. Tragically, for a man shadowed by his father's demons, it would also signal the beginning of the end. Drawing on family recollections, personal letters, scrapbooks, recordings, extensive interviews, and a lifetime of his own memories, Christopher paints a unique, intimate, and honest portrait of a man he was proud to call his uncle."--

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor New Shelf 791.43028092/Shaw (NEW SHELF) Due Apr 5, 2026
Subjects
Shaw, Robert, > 1927-1978.
Jaws (Motion picture : 1975)
Actors > Biography.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Citadel Press, Kensington Publishing Corp [2025]
Language
English
Main Author
Christopher Shaw Myers (author)
Physical Description
x, 310 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes filmography (pages 291-292) and index.
ISBN
9780806544328
  • Author's Note
  • Prologue
  • Part I. The Doctor's Children
  • 1. The Inquest
  • 2. The Shaws
  • 3. Riches to Rags
  • 4. The Cocks
  • Part II. Rising Stars
  • 5. Accents & Attitudes
  • 6. The London Acting Scene
  • 7. A Wild Ride
  • 8. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
  • 9. Pregnant in an Outhouse
  • 10. Kings & Heirs
  • 11. The Angel of Broadway
  • Part III. Jaws & Robert Shaw
  • 12. Stepped in Blood
  • 13. Wilder & Wilder
  • 14. We Have Our Picture!
  • Part IV. War & Suicide
  • 15. Letters from Home
  • 16. The Great War
  • 17. A Pauper's Grave
  • 18. The Blitz, the Evacuee & Daphne du Maurier
  • 19. Matinee Idol
  • Part V. Jaws & Mrs. Shaw
  • 20. An Offer She Can't Refuse
  • 21. An Awkward Lunch
  • 22. Coffee & Vodka
  • 23. I Know You!
  • 24. In a Glass Booth
  • 25. A Gruesome Death
  • 26. Show Me the Way to Go Home
  • Part VI. Leave Them Laughing
  • 27. Jaws
  • 28. Robert Shaw
  • 29. The Ghost of Drimbawn
  • 30. Joanna Shaw
  • 31. Mrs. Shaw
  • Appendix 1. Robert Shaw: Career Highlights
  • Appendix 2. Discussion Questions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Up close and personal with the acclaimed actor and his family. Myers is Shaw's nephew, and his access to a wealth of primary source materials intimately informs this sprightly, episodic biography. Shaw (1927-1978) and his three English siblings grew up on the Orkney Islands, where his father practiced medicine. His father's alcoholism forced his mother to flee with the children to a family farm in Cornwall. The author spends quite a bit of time discussing Shaw's sister Joanna, too; in some respects, it's something of a dual biography. After the war, a gifted young Shaw moved to London, joining the Royal Shakespeare company. The occasionally off-putting Shaw got a break when Alec Guinness cast him in a production ofHamlet. Next cameThe Lavender Hill Mob, a 1951 comedy. Shaw wrote novels, acted on Broadway, and had three girls. His first original play,The Man in the Glass Booth, directed by Harold Pinter, was nominated for a Tony. Shaw wrote award-winning fiction and acted in the Bond filmFrom Russia With Love (1963) and the highly successfulThe Sting (1973). Then, in 1974, Shaw got his first big role with a major studio:Jaws. Young Steven Spielberg's costly film--and mechanical shark--floundered while Shaw struggled with his drinking and Captain Quint's crucial, emotional monologue about World War II sailors on the torpedoedUSS Indianapolis being eaten by sharks in the Pacific. Thanks to his friend Thornton Wilder, Shaw had been rewriting it. Spielberg loved it--"I believe we have our picture." While Shaw's professional life was flourishing, his wife, Mary Ure--suffering from alcoholism--died at age 42. Shaw's own alcoholism took its toll, killing him at 51. Despite its awkward organization, this fulsome, heartfelt biography will delight fans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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