ROBERT SHAW

Up close and personal with the acclaimed actor and his family.

Myers is Shaw’s nephew, and his access to a wealth of primary source materials intimately informs this sprightly, episodic biography. Shaw (1927-1978) and his three English siblings grew up on the Orkney Islands, where his father practiced medicine. His father’s alcoholism forced his mother to flee with the children to a family farm in Cornwall. The author spends quite a bit of time discussing Shaw’s sister Joanna, too; in some respects, it’s something of a dual biography. After the war, a gifted young Shaw moved to London, joining the Royal Shakespeare company. The occasionally off-putting Shaw got a break when Alec Guinness cast him in a production of Hamlet. Next came The Lavender Hill Mob, a 1951 comedy. Shaw wrote novels, acted on Broadway, and had three girls. His first original play, The Man in the Glass Booth, directed by Harold Pinter, was nominated for a Tony. Shaw wrote award-winning fiction and acted in the Bond film From Russia With Love (1963) and the highly successful The Sting (1973). Then, in 1974, Shaw got his first big role with a major studio: Jaws. Young Steven Spielberg’s costly film—and mechanical shark—floundered while Shaw struggled with his drinking and Captain Quint’s crucial, emotional monologue about World War II sailors on the torpedoed USS Indianapolis being eaten by sharks in the Pacific. Thanks to his friend Thornton Wilder, Shaw had been rewriting it. Spielberg loved it—“I believe we have our picture.” While Shaw’s professional life was flourishing, his wife, Mary Ure—suffering from alcoholism—died at age 42. Shaw’s own alcoholism took its toll, killing him at 51.

Despite its awkward organization, this fulsome, heartfelt biography will delight fans.