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In the blockbuster Jaws, a great white shark kills young Alex Kintner (left), triggering a hunt for the hungry predator. Credit: Universal Pictures<\/p>\nIn the blockbuster Jaws, a great white shark kills young Alex Kintner (left), triggering a hunt for the hungry predator. Credit: Universal Pictures<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although Alex didn\u2019t survive the attack, actor Jeffrey Voorhees, who played the ill-fated boy in Steven Spielberg\u2019s classic thriller Jaws, did.<\/p>\n
Now 63, Voorhees, who still lives on Martha\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s frequent on-set malfunctions.<\/p>\n
You were initially just going to be an extra in Jaws before you were selected for a bigger role. What led up to that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We had just moved to Martha\u2019s 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 \u2026 [and] read these lines. I filled out all this paperwork \u2026 to join the Screen Actors Guild because they were giving me a speaking part. I didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve 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, \u201cI\u2019ll try it once!\u201d 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, \u201cI can do these events three or four times a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did it ever strike you as ironic that you became famous for becoming shark food and later managed a seafood restaurant?<\/p>\n
It was funny. For years, we had an Alex Kintner burger. It was a fish sandwich with a bloody red sauce on top.<\/p>\n
Is it true that you reunited with the actress who played your mother in Jaws (Lee Fierro) at your restaurant?<\/p>\n
Yes. One day, I looked out and saw Lee there. I hadn\u2019t seen her in years. I went to her and said, \u201cCan 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?\u201d Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she\u2019s like, \u201cOh my God, I had a son who \u2026 was eaten by a shark!\u201d She got up and hugged me.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s well-documented how much trouble the mechanical shark in Jaws was on set. Did you experience those issues shooting your scene?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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\u2019s why it didn\u2019t work. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me.<\/p>\n
Speaking of death, you know that a lot of Jaws fans honor your character\u2019s death every June 29, right?<\/p>\n
Yes, every June 29, I get all these messages telling me, \u201cWe\u2019re thinking of you!\u201d I\u2019ll even do videos for people on the beach where I get eaten. You get some strange requests. My website is thedeadalexkintner.com.<\/p>\n
Nobody remembers Pipit though, the dog who\u2019s eaten before you.<\/p>\n
The real Jaws fanatics will point out that I\u2019m actually not the second victim in the movie. I\u2019m the second human victim, but most of them are like, \u201cWhat about Pipit?\u201d<\/p>\n
Did you shoot an even more graphic version of your death scene?<\/p>\n
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, \u201cIf we show this in a movie theater, people are going to get up and leave!\u201d So, instead, I would swim out to this barrel full of blood and lie on top of it \u2026 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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