Bruce the Shark: Whatever happened to the toothy antagonist from Jaws?

With summer nearly upon us, let’s talk about the movie that created the phenomenon known as summer blockbusters: Jaws. (And I just have to point out that it wasn’t any movie, but a horror movie that owns this claim to fame.)

The year was 1975. Multiplexes hadn’t been invented yet. Lured by the buzz about a movie that released on June 20, fans flocked to theaters and stood in long lines that snaked around buildings and down streets. All to experience the terror of a toothy, relentless, and man-eating antagonist known as Bruce the Shark.

Okay, in the movie he’s not known as Bruce. He was called that by the cast and crew during filming. But now even fans know he had a name besides “the shark.”

But whatever happened to Bruce the Shark?

We know Spielberg went on to have an amazing career after working with him. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfus all already had pretty solid careers started by this point. Well, Scheider and Shaw both had already established careers. Especially Shaw. Playing “Quint” in Jaws was one of his last roles before he died in 1978. But their performances in Jaws certainly didn’t hinder either Scheider or Dreyfuss either.

However, while there have been several sequels to Jaws featuring other sharks, the original was never seen again. Why?

Well, there’s a bit of a story there. However, a Bruce the Shark with an interesting story of his own will be on display when the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opens in Los Angeles later this year.

Let’s take a look at how it worked out that he’s ending up with the honor of hanging above the escalator where he’ll greet museum visitors upon their arrival —even though he’s not the one who starred in Jaws.

The Many Bruces

Let’s start with Bruce’s origin story. There was actually more than one great white animatronic created for Jaws. As Screen Rant put it, “Spielberg had, in fact, commissioned three different models of the great white, all affectionally nicknamed ‘Bruce’, but none of them worked properly or looked totally and convincingly real.”

Worse, they’d been tested in freshwater. The malfunctioning began as soon as they released the first one into saltwater: It sank. But the problems didn’t stop there. The saltwater corroded its insides, outsides, and leaked into the pneumatic system, which rendered it pretty much impossible to control.

If Spielberg was a superstitious type who believed in omens, he might’ve feared it was a sign for what the movie was going to do to his career: Sink it. Instead, because all three sharks barely worked, he was forced to get creative with camera techniques and the movie’s musical score to tell the story. The result ended up producing one of the best horror movies ever made.

Bruce’s Sad Fate

After final filming wrapped, no one could blame Spielberg —or any of the others— for wanting to destroy the sharks that had caused them all such headaches. They didn’t know at that time what a hit they had on their hands. All they knew was those sharks might represent the end of a career or two (or more) since they’d contributed to an overbudget production.

Why keep mementos like that around? Not to mention, where would they store them?

That’s why they destroyed all three sharks used in the movie.

So then what’s the one in the Academy Museum?

Resurrecting Bruce the Shark

Syfy explained that once Jaws became such a mega-hit, “Universal Pictures quickly commissioned the construction of a fourth Bruce from the same mold used to cast the three that starred in the movie.” Visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood were able to see him for 15 years.

Then it was bye-bye to Bruce IV too. He ended up in a junkyard whose owner had had the shark for a while. He ended up donating the shark to the Academy Museum once they confirmed its authenticity.

Except, all that fresh air and sun exposure wasn’t great for the great white replica. He was pretty cracked, peeling, and faded. He needed a little (actually a lot) of restoration work to make him display-worthy once again.

But he is and will now greet —and perhaps haunt— visitors to the museum with that toothy grin of his as soon as the museum officially opens.

7 Fun Facts about Jaws and Bruce the Shark

1. Jaws was based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name, but many details that were in the book were left out of, or changed in, the movie.
2. Benchley based his book on real shark attacks that happened off the coast of New Jersey in 1916. (Michael Capuzzo wrote about it in Close to Shore, one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.)
3. Benchley was a reporter for The Washington Post and has a cameo as a reporter on the beach in the movie.
4. Neither Robert Shaw (“Quint”) nor Richard Dreyfuss (“Hooper”) were the first choices for their roles. Lee Marvin and Sterling Hayden turned down the role of Quint, and Spielberg initially hoped to cast Jon Voight, Timothy Bottoms or Jeff Bridges as Hooper.
5. Spielberg named the shark after his lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
6. Bruce IV weighs 1,208 pounds and is 25 feet long.
7. A few years ago, The Wrap reported Joe Hill theorized that an extra who appeared in Jaws might be the Lady of the Dunes, an unidentified murder victim whose body was found on July 26, 1974, at Race Point Dunes in Provincetown, Massachusetts, not far from where  Jaws was filmed. Perhaps she is, but her identity still has not been established.

3 Books and Movies You Can Find on Amazon from this Post

1. Jaws by Peter Benchley

2. Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo

3. Jaws (the original movie)

Note: If you subscribe to HBO Max, you can also watch Jaws there.

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For More Info

Visit academymuseum.org.

Check-In

When’s the last time you watched Jaws the movie and have you ever read Peter Benchley’s book?

I always like to try and watch the movie every summer at some point, but I’m not always successful. In fact, I think it’s been several years now since I’ve seen it. And I’ve never read the book. Maybe this will be the year I both finally watch it again and read the book?