Take a Bite Out Of This: Behind the Scenes Facts About Jaws

Quint Was Based On a Real Martha’s Vineyard Fisherman

Photo Credit: Universal Studios

A true Martha’s Vineyard fisherman named Craig Kingsbury was hired to teach Robert Shaw to be the salty old fisherman his character Quint is in the film. Kingsbury helped him with his Cape Cod accent and told him old fishing stories, some of which Shaw mentioned on a whim in his dialogue. Spielberg was so impressed and thankful for Kingsbury that he even offered him a role in the film.

Kingsbury ended up being a part of one of the most frightening scares in the film. He played the local fisherman Ben Gardner, whose severed head floats out of the wrecked ship that Hooper is inspecting beneath the water.