{"id":116089,"date":"2025-09-03T06:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T06:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/116089\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T06:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T06:37:09","slug":"jaws-child-star-shares-impressive-amount-he-still-earns-from-movie-50-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/116089\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaws child star shares impressive amount he still earns from movie 50 years on"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

Classic film Jaws<\/a> is credited with the invention of the modern blockbuster as we know it, launching Steven Spielberg as a major Hollywood player and making Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfus two of the most sought-after stars of the decade.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just the main cast members that reaped the rewards, with five days of shooting and one minute of screen time amounting to a lot more for child actor Jeffrey Voorhees. <\/p>\n

Vorhees might have had a tiny role in the film, playing the doomed Amity local Alex Kintner (aka \u201cSecond Child Killed by Shark\u201d), but his brief, tragic appearance has proved unexpectedly lucrative five decades on. <\/p>\n

Thanks to his involvement with the movie, Voorhees, now 62, is regularly flown around the world to appear at fan conventions, for which he is paid $10,000 a pop. <\/p>\n

The love for Jaws has also seen obsessives chomping at the chance to acquire personal clips from him on celebrity video-sharing website Cameo. Voorhees charges \u00a326 ($35) for messages and can receive up to 25 requests a day on occasions such as Mother\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Former child star makes regular appearances at signings and conventions (Jeffrey Voorhees)<\/p>\n

It took Voorhees some convincing to jump on the nostalgia train, but he decided to give the Jaws fan circuit a go in 2017 after years of being persuaded and offered flights, hotels and money to attend conventions. <\/p>\n

\u201cI used to say, \u2018I don\u2019t have time for this,\u2019 and then I said: \u2018OK, I\u2019ll try it once,\u2019\u201d he told The Independent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first one I ever did was in New York, and someone\u2019s at the airport holding your name up and the photos. You make good money at those things and you go all over the world and meet up with real actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enduring legacy of his character inspired him to launch his own website, where he sells inflatable life rafts with a huge shark bite mark in them (retailing for $289), mugs ($30-$60), posters ($35), and T-shirts (up to $70). <\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Voorhees with signed editions of his fleeting part in the film (Jeffrey Voorhees)<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of retired because it’s like I make more money off of Jaws stuff now,\u201d Voorhees, who ran his own restaurant business, aded.<\/p>\n

Voorhees\u2019 home is covered with Jaws merchandise \u2013 and he is still sent gifts from fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be walking down the street sometimes and I can hear people saying, \u2018That\u2019s the dead Alex Kintner over there!\u2019 It\u2019s surreal,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Former child star is still inundated with gifts and merchandise linked to the movies (Jeffrey Voorhees)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a 14-year-old girl crying because her parents drove her five hours down from Chicago and she was so moved to see me. I\u2019m in the movie for one minute!\u201d<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old said the enduring love has given him a sense of purpose, and a documentary about his story is currently in the works.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get a little high off of that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou make some good money, and you make some people really happy, so why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Voorhees<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Voorhees was 12 when he starred in the movie (Universal Pictures)<\/p>\n

Jaws is currently in cinemas again for a 50th-anniversary re-release<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-116089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}