Eaten by sharks (many, many spoilers)

Cafe Society
1

Sharks have been big movie villians since Spielberg’s classic Jaws, and maybe before that for all I know. Sometimes they’re genetically altered super genius sharks, sometimes they can live in fresh water for no apparent reason, sometimes they’re just damn big. I thought it would be useful to have a list of famous actors (i.e. not low paid “fishbait” extras) that have been eaten by sharks. I’ll start:

Robert Shaw (Jaws)
Samuel L. Jackson (Deep Blue Sea)
L.L. Cool J (Deep Blue Sea, tasted only)
Coolio (Red Water)
Lou Diamond Phillips (Red Water, tasted only)
Lou Gosset (Jaws 3, can’t remember his fate actually)
Mario Van Peebles (Jaws, the Revenge, tasted only)
Michael Caine (Jaws, the Revenge, not even tasted, but his airplane was eaten.)
That’s all I can think of. Actually, a shorter list than I thought.

Notables:

  1. Mitchell Anderson, whom I deem “unfamous”, played Sean Brody, who finally gets eaten in Jaws the Revenge, after surviving the earlier movies. Poor Sean. Also, Sheriff Brody, apparently died of a heart attack, because of, you know … “the fear”. However, that’s between. Jaws 2 and the Revenge.

  2. Samuel L. Jackson has the distinction of being the only actor to be eaten by both a shark and a dinosaur.

  3. Robert Shaw is the only famous white actor to be eaten by a shark. However, sharks have eaten plenty of hack white actors. Also, as I mentioned, one gave Michael Caine a pretty good scare.

2

It’s been forever since I’ve seen it, but wasn’t Richard Dreyfuss also eaten in Jaws? I remember a Dave Barry column where he mentioned that such-and-such was able to catch a shark, “using only Richard Dreyfuss” as bait.

3

Richard Dreyfuss went into the water in a shark cage, which was mauled by the shark. He survived the movie, though.

4

Thanks for the clarification.

Would that still qualify for the thread?

5

In the Mad Magazine parody, the shark dies when it realizes that Dreyfuss survived. Apparently this plot twist was so improbably (the character dies in the book) that not even a Great White shark could swallow it.

6

I’m 90%+ certain Dreyfuss’ character (Hooper) was eaten in the Benchley book. (Don’t hold me to this, but in the literary ending - the shark isn’t blown up; but simply drowns, Hooper’s having an affair with Brody’s wife and there is no McKitney kid.

Back to the OP:

  1. Not only pirahnas, but there were sharks in 1 or 2 Bond films (I recall the Jaws character biting the shark in Moonraker)
  2. A Jaws rip-off (whose name escapes me) that came after the Deep and before (the land-based Jaws rip-off) Grizzly (whose working title was Claws).
7

Screw Trident Gum.

6 out of 8 Hollywood sharks prefer dark meat to white meat.

8

To clarify further, it was the shark cage that was mauled, not Richard Dreyfuss. He wasn’t bitten at all, so I doubt he’d qualify.

Deep Blue Sea had some more shark-eatin’ goodness. I’d add Saffron Burroughs and Jacqueline McKenzie to that list, since neither of them are precisely low-bait extras just there to be eaten. (Burroughs was featured on the teaser poster, no less)

9

I have no idea who the name of the actor was, but in Open Water, the male lead was eaten by a shark after he died.

10

Add Michael Rapaport and Stellan Skarsgård, too.

I’m sure there are others, but the only major Bond character I remember getting eaten (in whole or in part) was Felix Leiter (David Hedison) in License to Kill.

11

He disagreed with something that ate him.

Does one of Mr. Big/Kananga’s henchmen get eaten in Live and Let Die?

I think Ernie Hudson is eaten by a great white in Shark Attack, but I can’t be sure.

12

Richard Harris was chomped and killed by a Killer Whale in Orca (1977).

Orca’s are not in the same family as sharks (Orca’s are in the Dolphin family), but hey, they are brutally efficient ocean predators with large, sharp teeth. :wink:

13

You watched that movie just to see Caspar Van Dien take his shirt off, didn’t you.

14

Also, Michael J. Fox was “eaten” by a 3-D Jaws in Back To The Future 2.

15

It’s like you’re inside my head or something.

16

Gilda Radner was eaten by a shark on SNL…land sharks qualify, right?

17

Strange, I thought we’d have some definitive additions to the list by now. However, if I remember right, Richard Dreyfuss wasn’t even tasted. His shark cage was destroyed, but he espcaped by swimming away and hiding behind some rocks. I guess he’s in the same category as Michael Caine. Felix Lieter counts, sort of, since the character is famous, if not the actor portraying him at the time. The others I declare not famous, because I haven’t heard of them. So there! I’ll count Ernie Hudson though, if we can get confirmation of his death.

18

There’s a fresh water lake in South America populated by Bull Sharks. Sharks occasionally make their way inland via rivers. A shark even swam up a creek in the early part of the last century in the north eastern part of the United States and killed 2-3 people.
Marc

19

Bull sharks, huh? I was pretty sure someone was having you on, but I looked it up, and by gosh, there is such a thing as a bull shark that even can inhabit freshwater lakes and rivers. I assume it got its name from its soon-to-be victims. “Shark in the river? Bull!” Fortunately, I now know how to escape: have an accomplice plunge the drill from an oil rig down its throat. That’s its weakness.

I’m still waiting for proof of genetically-enhanced uber-sharks and also land sharks.

20

A lot of kids were into dinosaurs or rockets but I was always into sharks.

Marc