Actor with real bite was a man for all seasons
A look back at the force of nature that was actor Robert Shaw, from Henry VIII to the jaws of a killer shark...
BOLTON-BORN actor Robert Shaw never wanted to play shark-hunter Quint in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster movie Jaws. He didn’t like the book by Peter Benchley and was determined to turn the role down – until his actress wife Mary Ure and his secretary stepped in to change his mind.
“The last time they were that enthusiastic was From Russia With Love,” said Shaw. “And they were right.”
They certainly were.
The movie about a great white shark terrorising the beaches of Amity Island broke box office records across the world, grossing more than $472 million.
Its soundtrack, particularly the alternating pattern of two notes when the shark attacked, became an iconic piece of suspense music signifying the approach of danger.
Oddly enough, Shaw was not director Spielberg’s first choice to play the shark-obsessed fisherman Quint. The role was offered to Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin who both said no.
Shaw got the part on the recommendation of producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown who were impressed with his performance as crime boss Doyle Lonnegan in the 1973 movie The Sting.
To perfect the character of Quint, Shaw studied Massachusetts fisherman and farmer Ben Gardner – a well-known local eccentric. Some of his sayings were incorporated in the script.
Quint came to a grisly end in the movie – being devoured by the giant shark after it leaps into his boat.
Two years later, Shaw was back in the water playing lighthouse keeper and treasure-hunter Romer Treece in another Peter Benchley movie adaptation, The Deep.
Born in King Street, Westhoughton, in August 1927, Shaw was one of five children to former nurse Doreen Nora Shae (nee Avery) and Dr Thomas Archibald Shaw.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London before appearing in a TV production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov in 1947.
Shaw took part in a series of productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his West End debut in the play Caro William at the Embassy Theatre in 1952.
Shaw rose to national prominence playing Captain Dan Tempest in the TV drama The Buccaneers, screened from 1956 to 1957.
More leading TV roles followed as well as appearing in the Broadway production of Harold Pinter’s play The Caretaker alongside Alan Bates and Donald Pleasance.
Shaw’s film career took off when he was cast as assassin Donovan Grant in the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love. He met his second wife, Mary Ure, while shooting The Luck of Ginger Coffey in Canada in 1964.
Many will remember Shaw as the driven Wehrmacht Panzer commander Colonel Martin Hessler in the 1965 World War II movie Battle of the Bulge, which also starred Henry Fonda.
Shaw was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for his performance as Henry VIII in Fred Zimmerman’s 1966 masterpiece A Man for All Seasons.
Based on the original work by Sale playwright Robert Bolt, the movie told the story of Sir Thomas More’s struggle with his conscience and faith during Henry’s tempestuous separation from Catherine of Aragon. Shakespearean actor Paul Schofield played More while Vanessa Redgrave was Henry’s new love Anne Boleyn. Bramhall actress Wendy Hiller portrayed More’s wife Alice. Shaw played General George Armstrong Custer in the 1967 movie Custer of the West and then Protestant reformer Martin Luther in the 1968 TV film Luther.
In 1969, Shaw took to the skies to play an unnamed squadron leader in Guy Hamilton’s war film Battle of Britain. Our photo shows him alongside World War II hero pilot Douglas Bader, left, and Christopher Plummer who portrayed a Canadian airman.
Shaw played the Sheriff of Nottingham in Richard Lester’s 1976 romance Robin and Marian. It starred Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn in the title roles.
After playing Major Keith Mallory in the 1978 action adventure Force 10 from Navarone, Shaw said he’d quit films for writing. He made one more movie – Avalanche Express – which he said would pay off his taxes.
Shortly after completing the film, Shaw died from a heart attack in August 1978 while driving back to his home in County Mayo, Ireland. He was 51.
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