Alex Kintner was just 12 when he paddled into the Atlantic Ocean on a yellow raft to enjoy the Fourth of July weekend on Amity Island with his mother.
It was June 29, 1974, and the summer day was like any other. However, the peaceful morning turned into an unimaginable nightmare when a great white shark emerged from the shallows and tore the youth into chum.
Although Alex didn’t survive the attack, actor Jeffrey Voorhees, who played the ill-fated boy in Steven Spielberg’s classic thriller Jaws, did.
Now 63, Voorhees, who still lives on Martha’s Vineyard where Jaws was shot, looks back at his experience on the set with fondness, although he initially tried to stay out of the spotlight for years.
On Feb. 21-22, Voorhees will visit San Antonio for Children of Horror, an event at Wonderland of the Americas mall which celebrates the child actors who starred in some of the scariest movies in cinematic history.
During a recent interview with the Current, Voorhees talked about landing the small albeit memorable role of Alex Kintner in Jaws and why he thinks he contributed to the mechanical shark’s frequent on-set malfunctions.
You were initially just going to be an extra in Jaws before you were selected for a bigger role. What led up to that?
We had just moved to Martha’s Vineyard that year. Word got out that they were making a movie and needed a lot of extras. I got a call from [Steven] Spielberg, and he wanted me to go down to this hotel … [and] read these lines. I filled out all this paperwork … to join the Screen Actors Guild because they were giving me a speaking part. I didn’t even know the name of the movie! I just knew I was going to get eaten by a shark. I guess it pays to die.
I read that in the years following the release of Jaws, you hid from the fact that you were in the film. When did you decide to embrace your role in what is now considered a cinematic masterpiece?
I’ve been living on the Vineyard since they filmed the movie. People would come in and ask for my autograph. But I was too busy working and managing a seafood restaurant. People wanted me to go to [conventions] to sign photos. About eight or nine years ago, I said, “I’ll try it once!” I had a good time, and I made a few dollars doing it. People are so happy to see you, so you get a little high from that too. So, I thought, “I can do these events three or four times a year.”
Did it ever strike you as ironic that you became famous for becoming shark food and later managed a seafood restaurant?
It was funny. For years, we had an Alex Kintner burger. It was a fish sandwich with a bloody red sauce on top.
Is it true that you reunited with the actress who played your mother in Jaws (Lee Fierro) at your restaurant?
Yes. One day, I looked out and saw Lee there. I hadn’t seen her in years. I went to her and said, “Can I ask you an odd question? Do you believe in reincarnation because I think I died years ago, and you look like my mother in my previous life?” Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she’s like, “Oh my God, I had a son who … was eaten by a shark!” She got up and hugged me.
It’s well-documented how much trouble the mechanical shark in Jaws was on set. Did you experience those issues shooting your scene?
It’s funny because me and some of the other kids knew where they stored the shark, and we used to break in and climb all over it and wiggle the teeth. I was doing a Q&A with [production designer] Joe Alves once, and he was talking about how the shark broke down a lot. I told him that we used to break in and climb all over that shark at night, and maybe that’s why it didn’t work. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me.
Speaking of death, you know that a lot of Jaws fans honor your character’s death every June 29, right?
Yes, every June 29, I get all these messages telling me, “We’re thinking of you!” I’ll even do videos for people on the beach where I get eaten. You get some strange requests. My website is thedeadalexkintner.com.
Nobody remembers Pipit though, the dog who’s eaten before you.
The real Jaws fanatics will point out that I’m actually not the second victim in the movie. I’m the second human victim, but most of them are like, “What about Pipit?”
Did you shoot an even more graphic version of your death scene?
Yes, but it was with a mannequin that looked just like me. But when the mechanical shark bit the mannequin, its head would spin in the air, and the arms and legs would go in every direction. They were like, “If we show this in a movie theater, people are going to get up and leave!” So, instead, I would swim out to this barrel full of blood and lie on top of it … and these two guys in wetsuits would lift me in and out of the water before the barrel exploded. I was freezing my little ass off, [but] it was fun.
Children of Horror
Free, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 21-Sunday, Feb. 22, Wonderland of the Americas, 4522 Fredericksburg Road, (210) 785-3500, kingsofhorrortexas.com.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
