The first victim of ‘Jose’ was 77 years old.

Susan Becklin, stuntperson and actress who went out for a nighttime swim at Amity Island Beach as a young skinny dipper First Shark Hunt In Steven Spielberg Jaws, have died. She was 77 years old.

Becklini died Saturday at his home in Ventura, Calif., according to his convention agent, Matthew Templeton. told Daily Joe’s website

Becklini was a nationally ranked swimmer and professional diver who had performed as a mermaid and worked as an animal trainer when she was hired at age 28 to play the skinny dipping chair at Universal. . Jaws (1975).

“I didn’t want an actor to do it. I wanted a stunt person because I needed someone who was very good in water, who knew water ballet and knew what I envisioned. It’s too violent a shock to endure,” Spielberg said in Laurent Bouzereau’s 2023 book, Spielberg: The first ten years. “So, I went on a stunt to find her, and Susan was up to the challenge.”

“First thing [Spielberg] “I was told, ‘When your scene is done, I want everybody under the seats with popcorn and bubblegum,'” Becklini said. gave The Palm Beach Post In a 2017 interview.

As the director describes it in Bozerow’s book: “He had a control. It had two eye rings and wires that carried two spots on the beach. [about 50 yards away]. There were five crews on one side and five crews on the other and they basically pulled Susan. A ribbon hung from the wire, and when it reached a stake they had to stop pulling and the other team took over and pulled it to the other side.

“What you didn’t want to do was pull both teams at the same time. For added safety, she had the ability to quickly release the wire if something went wrong. To give her that impression The shark pulling him violently to the right and then immediately violently to the left should have been completely choreographed.

Beckelney worked on the scene for three days on Martha’s Vineyard. “We’ll film anywhere from 6 or 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. because of the light.” said “I’ll tell you, I was exhausted at the end of the day,” he said in an interview last year.

Because of this, people never went swimming in the sea again.

Born on September 1, 1946, Becklini and her family moved from Washington to West Palm Beach, Florida, when she was 10 years old. After graduating in 1964, she attended nursing school for a year.

According to Postshe swam as a mermaid at the tourist attraction of Wakiwachi Springs in Florida and worked with wild animals at Ivan Torres Studios in Miami. The flapper On a national tour with Tors on NBC, he shared a stage with Gentle Ben, the bear who would star in the 1967–69 CBS series opposite Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard.

Bakalini was shooting on location with a tiger in Canada when Jaws The staff found him. He told Spielberg: “If you use me, you can only get close-ups during the stunt. If you use an actress, she has to hide her face.”

In a 2010 TV documentary Jaws: The Inside Storyshe said that during her breast, “As I would feel my hips go to one side, I would throw my arms as hard as I could in the opposite direction.

“I also had a pair of fins because when they pulled me aside I would go under, so I had to kick with all my might to stay above the water. It took a lot of energy, but I Time was in pretty good shape. Between takes, Spielberg was in an inner tube with him.

Jaws She will be seen in her first film. Beckliny went back into the water naked and in the dark for Spielberg. 1941 (1979) – Once again it was that obnoxious musical – only this time he A Japanese submarine was encountered..

Backline also appeared in it Two minute warning (1976), A stranger in the forest (1976), Animal day (1977) – She was also an animal trainer on – The Great Muppet Keeper (1981) and a 1982 case The Fall Guy Before retiring from stunt work.

She and her husband, Harvey, lived on a houseboat in Ventura.