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'Jaws' Child Actor Jay Mello Was Terrified For Years After Filming Key Scene in 1975 Film
Jay Mello, one of the young cast members in the 1975 movie Jaws, was scarred for years after filming scenes on the beach on Martha's Vineyard.
The young actor was 6 years old when he was cast as the Amity Island police chief's son Sean Brody in the 1975 Steven Spielberg film. And while his parents were sure to cover his eyes during early viewings of the gory shark film, Mello was haunted by what he saw during filming, especially a realistic-looking animatronic shark head.
"I didn't get to see the whole thing because my mom and dad kept ducking my head under the seats,' Mello, 57, told People magazine in honor of the film's 50th anniversary. "I didn't go back into the water for like two years after the movie was made," he added.
Mello only appeared in the first Jaws film, although his character turned up in all of the sequels. Marc Gilpin, John Putch, and Mitchell Anderson played older versions of Sean Brody. The longtime character met an untimely demise following a shark attack in the 1987 film Jaws: The Revenge.
As a kid, Mello was a Martha's Vineyard local without an acting background, but in a scene in the original Jaws, he pulled off a convincing crying fit. That may be because he wasn't acting.
According to The Daily Jaws, during an appearance at Jaws Fest 2005 in Martha's Vineyard, Mello explained a memorable scene of him crying in the sand after the Jaws shark was spotted in the pond. Mello said the scene was shot after his movie dad, Chief Brody (Roy Scheider), unexpectedly ran over and grabbed him off the ground as he played on the beach. Mello wasn't expecting the unrehearsed move, and it frightened him, so he began to cry.
Mello revealed that Spielberg apologized for not warning him that Scheider was going to snatch him up.'Jaws' Child Actor Jay Mello Was Terrified For Years After Filming Key Scene in 1975 Film first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 25, 2025
