A former child star who appeared in the classic movie Jaws is still reeling in the fin-ancial rewards.
Now 62, actor Jeffrey Voorhees portrayed Alex Kintner who gets eaten by the shark that terrorises Amity Island.
Just in case you haven’t taken a bite out of Steven Spielberg’s classic yet, Jaws follows the utter chaos that unfolds in a seaside town when a great white shark starts attacking beachgoers, prompting a police chief, a marine biologist, and a shark hunter to join forces and take it down.
The film stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton.
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Voorhees was only 12 years old when he filmed the 1975 blockbuster that still terrifies viewers 50 years after it came out.
Alex is only in the movie for a short amount of time before he’s eaten, but his appearance became quite lucrative.
“It pays to die,” he said in a Syfy documentary.
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Voorhees managed to transform his scene into an entire business.
He explained: “I was a 12-year-old kid who was in the movie for like a minute, but there are some real Jaws fanatics out there. One guy in England bought 125 photos. I do signings.
“They fly me all over the world and pay me in cash at those things - around £10,000 a time. There are Jaws tours and people pay double if I’m on them and next month I’m appearing at three Meet, Greet and Mingle Parties.”
Voorhees added: “I still get paid every time the film appears on TV.
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“My brother lives in Portugal and I’ll get texts from him going: 'Good news, you just died on TV over here. You’ll get another cheque'.”
Voorhees is also active on the platform Cameo, where he offers personalised videos for £25.99.
Jaws celebrated the big 5-0 in June and the oceanic thriller is still making waves, leaving a lasting legacy of dedicated fans.
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Spielberg said Jaws marked a 'turning point' in his career.
“I was a director-for-hire before Jaws, and because it was such a big hit, I could do any movie I wanted, and Hollywood just wrote me a cheque,” the iconic director told Far Out in 2023.
He explained how Hollywood struggled to take his ideas seriously, until Jaws made waves at the box office.
“But the second Jaws was a hit, everybody said: ‘What about that flying saucer movie you had? Do you still want to make that?’ So, Jaws really was the turning point,” Voorhees said.
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At this rate, getting eaten by a shark might be the most lucrative gig in Hollywood... where do we sign up?
Topics: TV And Film, Money
Gregory Robinson