RIP Peter Benchley.
Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:02 pm
Thank you for making me deathly afraid of swimming in the ocean.
From the IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-02-13/
From the IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-02-13/
Jaws author Peter Benchley died in his Princeton, New Jersey home on Saturday night. He was 65. The writer, whose 1974 best-selling novel was adapted into Steven Spielberg's movie blockbusters, died from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and a fatal scarring of the lungs, his widow Wendy confirmed. Despite his novel turning sharks into objects of fear for millions of people around the world, the author was a long-time campaigner for the conservation of the sea creatures. Wendy says, "Spielberg certainly made the most superb movie; Peter was very pleased. But Peter kept telling people the book was fiction, it was a novel, and that he no more took responsibility for the fear of sharks than Mario Puzo took responsibility for the Mafia." Benchley is survived by three children and five grandchildren.
I was 8 yrs old when I got my scuba licenses. I remember terrifying my dad by jumping off his boat, and swimming in the wide open ocean. The water was so blue, out there in the deep. I remember on a fishing trip. I was on the dive platform, about to try to swim with some dolphins ( dolphins scarred the fish off ). When our balloon with live bait popped, and a 10-12' bull shark was on. He got away, but I was like would the dolphin have protected me? If so man I missed a once n a life time event by a few minutes.
