VIP Bios

Wendy Benchley
During their 43-year marriage, Peter and Wendy Benchley worked together on conservation issues, work that Mrs. Benchley continues today. In the 1970s, she co-founded the New Jersey Environmental Federation in an effort to keep hazardous substances out of the home, and she has worked with the Environmental Defense Fund on national environmental issues for 23 years. She currently holds a leadership role at Shark Savers, whose 10,000 members aim to motivate people to stop consuming sharks, serve as the voice for a maligned species, and focus attention on locations where sharks need to be protected.

Brenda Siemer Scheider
Mrs. Siemer Scheider, who began her career as an actress, married Roy Scheider in 1989 and together they raised two children. Her role as a documentary film maker began in 1987, when she produced and co-directed “Is It Really Me,” a documentary on young women coming of age. She wrote and produced “I Know a Song,” which focuses on her mother’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease, in 1988. Her latest film, “In My Hands—A Story of Marfan Syndrome,” was selected for the 2011 Hamptons International Film Festival.

Carl Gottlieb
In addition to co-writing the JAWS screenplay and playing Meadows, the local newspaper editor, in the film, Mr. Gottlieb directed 1981’s cult film “Caveman” and wrote for numerous TV shows, including “The Bob Newhart Show,” “All in the Family,” and “The Odd Couple.”

Joe Alves
Production designer and director Joe Alves first worked with Steven Spielberg on “The Sugarland Express.” He was responsible for scouting Martha’s Vineyard as the location for “Jaws,” art directing the film, and designing three mechanical sharks for the movie with Bob Mattey. Alves went on to win an Academy Award for his work on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” direct Jaws 3-D, and serve as production director for numerous films, including 1981’s “Escape from New York.”

Susan Backlinie
Ms. Backlinie was the first victim in “Jaws,” playing the unforgettable scene in which Chrissie Watkins is attacked by a great white shark during a nighttime swim. She later appeared in “A Stranger in my Forrest,” “Day of the Animals,” “Treasure,” and “Grizzly.” A native Californian, Ms. Backlinie specialized in swimming-related stunts and has spent the last 10 years living on a boat with her husband successfully avoiding sharks while sailing the waters of the Pacific.

Dr. Greg Skomal
Dr. Skomal is an accomplished marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer, aquarist, and author. He has been a senior fisheries biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries since 1987 and currently heads up the Massachusetts Shark Research Program. He has written dozens of scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film and television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and ESPN. His most recent book is The Shark Handbook.

Greg Nicotero
After viewing JAWS, Mr. Nicotero was inspired to begin a career in special effects that has spanned several decades. He first learned the trade from award-winning special effects artist Tom Savini and went on to work as an FX artist on 1985’s “Day of the Dead” as well as “The Green Mile,” “Vanilla Sky,” and “Sin City.” He is an avid JAWS fan and designed the model of Bruce that currently resides in Edgartown’s Sharky’s Cantina.

Edith Blake
Ms. Blake’s involvement with “Jaws” began as an assistant to casting director Shari Rhodes, photographing potential cast members and extras. A resident of Martha’s Vineyard since the age of 18, she went on to document the making of the film in thousands of stunning photos, eventually publishing The Making of the Movie Jaws in 1975. Her photos and lore are used extensively in Matt Taylor’s Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard.

Lynn & Susan Murphy
Long-time Vineyard residents, the Murphys played a pivotal part in the filming of the on-water “Jaws” scenes. Initially hired as boat handlers, Lynn was later instrumental in getting the mechanical shark to work (and serving as a model for Robert Shaw’s Quint), while Susan ferried cast and crew to and from the Orca and helped set anchors so they could not be seen by the camera.

Lee Fierro
Lee Fierro was an actress on the New York stage and worked in live television in the late 1940s and early ’50s. When she moved to Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and five children, she decided to leave the acting profession, focusing on her family and teaching children at the Island Theater Workshop. In 1974, Mrs. Fierro ran into her friend Virginia Poole who was helping to cast JAWS. She auditioned for and accepted the role of Mrs. Kintner, perhaps most famous for the 17 takes it took to capture the confrontation scene between the grieving mother and Roy Scheider’s Chief Brody.