This has been a sad weekend. According to the AP and the Buffalo News, the great Peter Benchley has passed at the age of 65. Benchley is the author of one of the scariest novels and screenplays of all time, Jaws. Many may not agree with me, but in the seventies, people where afraid of going into the ocean and any other body of water for that matter because of the terrifying killer great white who was brought to life in this story.
Apparently Benchley had been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and although I have no clue what that is, I do know that it is a horribly chronic illness.
Peter Benchley, whose novel “Jaws” made millions think twice about stepping into the water even as the author himself became an advocate for the conservation of sharks, has died at age 65, his widow said Sunday. Wendy Benchley, married to the author for 41 years, said he died Saturday night at their home in Princeton, N.J. The cause of death, she said, was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and fatal scarring of the lungs. Thanks to Benchley’s 1974 novel, and Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie of the same name, the simple pastime of ocean swimming became synonymous with fatal horror, of still water followed by ominous, pumping music, then teeth and blood and panic.
“Spielberg certainly made the most superb movie; Peter was very pleased,” Wendy Benchley told The Associated Press.
I couldn’t agree more. In this semi-critic’s opinion, Jaws is one of the greatest films ever produced.
Thank you Benchley for creating the characters, the story and a fear which will echo on for ever.
