Many of us will know who Jeffrey Voorhees is without realising it, if we think back to the iconic movie Jaws (1975) directed by Steven Spielberg. In the opening scenes of the movie, an adolescent named Alex Kinter (played by Voorhees) is spotted for a brief moment enjoying a day at the beach on the island of Amity, showing off by swimming far out at sea. What followed was the arrival of the monstrous shark Bruce, who viciously attacked the nonchalant Alex in a bloody frenzy. This event set in motion a wide search for the shark responsible for the horrendous attacks that would plague Amity that summer. As such, Voorhees (who incidentally shares his name with the serial killer from Friday The 13th) has been immortalised in cinematic history through his appearance in the movie, being the first death witnessed from the beach by Chief Brody (played by Roy Scheider).
Voorhees went on to feature in the hit television series Santa Barbara and the drama movie One More Shot, which followed two college wrestlers. He’s now a manager of the seafood restaurant ‘The Wharf’ on Martha’s Vineyard, the very same island used to depict Amity in the Jaws movie! The restaurant still serves a sandwich known as ‘The Alex Kintner Burger’. Despite never having a major role in a movie since Jaws, he still insists that the Jaws fanatics “keep circling him”, and he frequently receives interview requests from all over the world. Clinging on to his fascinating claim to fame, Voorhees revels in telling his customers who he is and what happened to him in the classic 70s movie.