Robert Shaw: An Actor’s Life on the Set of Jaws and Beyond

Myers is the nephew of actor and playwright Robert Shaw (1927–78); his mother, Joanna, was Robert’s sister. Using letters, scrapbooks and other personal items his mother kept, and his own memories, Myers interprets their stories. Robert and Joanna were very close, and this book is as much about Joanna as it is Robert. Myers covers their childhood years in Orkney and Cornwall, the suicide of their father, and their years in London helping to shape each other’s lives and careers, along with Shaw’s alcohol use disorder and early death. Despite a successful theatrical and film acting career, Shaw considered himself more of a writer (he wrote the play The Man in the Glass Booth and two novels). He was never really comfortable as a film actor, and it wasn’t until he played Quint in Jaws that he became internationally known. Myers includes a behind-the-scenes look into the sometimes chaotic making of Jaws, which is apropos considering 2025 is the film’s 50th anniversary.