ROBERT SHAW (actor)

Robert Shaw was an English actor from the 1950s to the 1970s. He was FAR from an overnight success! He was born in 1927, and after seeing Hamlet in 1944, he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and after he graduated, he joined the Old Vic, and he continued in it, planning to make his life as a Shakespearean actor. In 1951, he had a minor movie role in The Lavender Hill Mob, and he did not have much success in movies over the next five years. In 1956, he was signed to star in the TV show "The Buccaneers", and he also wrote a novel, "The Hiding Place". He had a very messy private life, at one point having a baby with his mistress, Mary Ure, only weeks after his wife gave birth to his baby. In 1962, he appeared in The Valiant, and in 1963 in The Caretaker, and then he had his giant break when he was the villain in "From Russia With Love" in 1963. He then made a number of critically acclaimed movies that did not have great success at the box office, except for "A Man For All Seasons", where he was nominated for the Best Support Actor Oscar. In 1973 and 1974, he had two great performances in American movies, "The Sting" and "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3", and the following year, he had the most notable role of his career as Quint in "Jaws". He had several more good performances before his hard drinking life caught up with him, and he passed away in 1978 at the age of 51 from a heart attack.