AUTHOR'S CORNER

ROBERT SHAW: An Actor's Life On The Set Of JAWS And Beyond

(Cinema Retro's Author's Corner invites authors to provide personal insights into their latest book.)

By Christopher Shaw Myers
June 1, 2025

There is little in life that affects a child more than the loss of a parent. When that parent is a role model, a loving and supportive member of the family, the children mourn and feel sad for themselves, but they take away positive feelings for the rest of their lives. When, however, the parent is so troubled that he takes his own life, a very different set of feelings emerge. They mourn their loss, but at the same time they are engulfed by a mixture of emotions that are so personal and complex that they can neither be conveyed nor understood by someone who has not been through a similar experience.

“Anyone who tells you they were a happy child must have had a very boring childhood,” Robert Shaw once told me, “because nothing ever happened to them.”

To say that my uncle did not have a boring childhood would be an understatement. He and my mother – Robert’s little sister and best friend in life – survived events that would have hobbled others, if not outright killed them. If anything, their father’s suicide was the least of their troubles. When Dr. Shaw was lowered into a pauper’s grace, they had fallen to the bottom of the English class culture. They had no money, no means of support, and with World War II underway, resources were scarce.

And yet – and this is what inspired me to write a biography about my uncle – I never saw anyone laugh so hard as when Robert was talking about his childhood. I was five years old when my mother began taking me to visit him in New York City. Robert always seemed to be in town for a play, a movie premier, or some other event. I sat in restaurants and hotel rooms and listened to those two howl with laughter about their childhood years. Of course, it was not their father they were remembering – it was all the fun they had, hiking in Orkney’s rugged hills, pretending to be pirates on Cornwall’s rivers, shooting at passersby with Robert’s bb gun, or hitting a U.S. army officer with their water hose.

Mrs. Shaw was the reason her children not only survived, but thrived. When her dreams of an upper-class life vanished with the death of her husband, she transferred her ambition and focused on her children’s education. As a result, they attended Oxford, Cambridge, and other prestigious schools. Robert went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) and became an international movie star. In addition to his role as Quint in Jaws, he helped turn A Man for All Seasons into an Oscar winner with his unforgettable role as Henry VIII; he helped turn The Sting into another Oscar winner with his role as the Chicago gangster; and in From Russia With Love, where he was the blond-haired assassin, he helped launch the James Bond franchise, which continues to thrive to this day.

And Robert was more than just a movie star: he was also a gifted writer. His first novel, The Hiding Place, was made into a movie starring Alec Guinness and Robert Redford; his second novel, The Sun Doctor, won the Hawthornden Prize; his play, The Man In The Glass Booth, ran on Broadway for a year, starring Donald Pleasence, and was nominated for a Tony Award. And not to be forgotten is Robert’s contribution to Jaws, in which he both wrote and performed the famous USS Indianapolis speech.

In person, Robert was as magnetic as his screen personality, but he was also haunted by inner demons. Who wouldn’t be, given such an ‘un-boring’ childhood? His talent and his flaws were on equal display, and people tended to either love him or hate him – there was very little in between. With his brutal honesty, he might praise or ridicule you, depending on what he thought of your performance. Those who were confident enough to take his criticism in stride – and to dish it back – were carried along by his energy and hubris, and they always seemed to thrive. Richard Dreyfuss and Sean Connery come to mind.

In the end, those who knew Robert best always remembered one thing above all else: how much fun they had with him. ROBERT SHAW: An Actor’s Life On The Set Of JAWS And Beyond is my attempt to capture some of the magic he possessed. Whether you like him or dislike him after reading this book – whether you love his humor and authenticity or hate his brash arrogance – you will surely have a strong opinion of the man.

Author Christopher Shaw Myers provides insight into his book, ROBERT SHAW - Cinema Retro