Movies - Peter Benchley

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Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author best known for writing the novel Jaws later turned into a highly successful film. The success of the book led to publishers commissioning books about mutant rats, rabid dogs and the like threatening communities. The subsequent film directed by Steven Spielberg and cowritten by Benchley is generally acknowledged as the first summer blockbuster. Benchley also wrote The Deep and The Island which were also turned into films.

Early life

Born in New York City, Benchley was from a literary family. He was the son of author Nathaniel Benchley and grandson of Algonquin Round Table founder Robert Benchley. Peter Benchley was an alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University.

After graduating, he worked for The Washington Post, then as an editor at Newsweek and a speech-writer in the White House. He developed the idea of a maneating shark terrorising a community after reading of a fisherman catching a 4,550 pound great white shark off the coast of Long Island in 1964.

Jaws

Doubleday editor Peter Congdon saw some of Benchley's articles and invited Benchley to lunch to discuss some ideas for books. Congdon was not impressed by Benchley's proposals for non-fiction but was interested in his idea of a novel about a great white shark terrorising a beach resort. Congdon offered Benchley an advance of $1,000 leading to the novelist submitting the first 100 pages. Much of the work had to be rewritten as the publisher was not happy with the initial tone.

Jaws was published in 1973 and became a great success staying on the bestseller list for 44 weeks. Steven Spielberg has stated that he initially found many of the characters unsympathetic and wanted the shark to win. Book critics such as Michael Rogers of Rolling Stone Magazine shared the sentiment but the book struck a chord with readers.

Benchley co-wrote the screenplay with Carl Gottlieb for the Spielberg film released in 1975. He also made a cameo appearance as a news reporter on the beach. The film was released in the summer which was traditionally considered to be the graveyard season for films. However, Universal Studios decided to break tradition by releasing the movie widely promoted by television advertising for the first time. This strategy led to the film becoming the first to gross $100 million at the US box office and eventually grossed $450 million around the world. George Lucas used a similar strategy for Star Wars released in 1977 which broke the box office records set by Jaws and the summer blockbuster was born. The film spawned three sequels none of which matched the success of the original at the box office or critically.

Benchley estimated that he earned enough from book sales, film rights, and magazine and book club syndication to be able to work independently as a film writer for ten years ("Peter Benchley "Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003).

Subsequent career

His second novel, The Deep was based on a honeymooning couple discovering the entrance to a shipwreck and clashing with treasure hunters. It was based on meeting diver Teddy Tucker in Bermuda while working on a story for the National Geographic. It was reasonably successful. Benchley wrote the screenplay for the film released in 1977, a year after the book.

The Island, released in 1979 was a story of 17th century pirates. Benchley again wrote the screenplay but the film failed at the box office when released in 1980. During the 1980's, Benchley wrote three novels that didn't sell as well as his previous works. Q Clearance published in 1986 was written from his experience as a staffer in the Johnson White House.

He returned to nautical themes in 1991's The Beast written about a giant squid threatening Bermuda. White Shark published in 1994 about the Nazi's genetically engineered great white shark failed to achieve popular or critical success with Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of the New York Times saying it "looks more like Arnold Schwarzeneger than any fish". ("Peter Benchley "Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003)

In the last decade of his career, Benchley wrote non-fiction works about the sea and about sharks advocating their conservation. He was a member of the National Council of Environmental Defense and a spokesman for its Oceans Program.

Death

Benchley died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and a fatal scarring of the lungs, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, on February 11, 2006. He was 65. He is survived by his wife Wendy Benchley, a daughter: Tracy, and two sons: Chris and Clayton.

Work

Fiction

1973 Jaws
1976 The Deep
1979 The Island
1982 The Girl of the Sea of Cortez
1986 Q Clearance
1989 Rummies
1991 Beast
1994 White Shark
1997 Peter Benchley's Creature

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