The touching tale of how shy islander was cast as Quint's mate
Jaws is often lauded as being one of the most perfectly cast movies ever. The main trio of actors, Roy Scheider (Brody), Robert Shaw (Quint) and Richard Dreyfuss (Hooper) give us characters we genuinely care about and are one of the many secrets to Jaws’ longevity.
As with any classic movie, the supporting actors are just as important as the leads. A supporting character is a person who plays a role in the life of a story's protagonist, used in the process of world-building to create a compelling backdrop to the main character's story arc. Look at Mayor Larry Vaughn and Ellen Brody again perfectly cast and played by Murray Hamilton and Lorraine Gary respectively, representing both sides of Brody’s moral coin.
Beonod the leads and supporting characters, the hearts that beat at the centre of Jaws are the residents of Amity Island. To give Amity Island a real world authenticity, director Steven Spielberg and casting director Shari Rhodes recruited actual residents of Jaws shooting location Martha’s Vineyard - Polly (Peggy Scott) , Mrs Kintner (Lee Fierro) and Michael Brody (Chris Rebello) - with many having never acted before.
One such local Hershel West (below), an extremely shy fisherman was gently coaxed into playing Quint’s mate, Salvatore.
Living on a boat called the Jesatoma when casting of locals began, Hershel lived a quiet life mostly keeping himself to himself. Shari Rhodes saw Hershel on the local docks and the “...scruffy looking guy…” was exactly the kind of authentic sea faring character to be found on Amity Island.
“I saw him working on the docks one day... My assistant Jini Poole was with me and I said to her, ‘I want that guy for the movie.’”
Jini was very doubtful of Hershel’s participation telling Shari she’d never be able to get him. Hershel was known for not speaking to anyone so why would be speak to a Hollywood casting director, let alone act in a big budget movie?
Not to be deterred, Shari knew she wanted Hershel and had Jini introduce her. Shari had been speaking with many old-time islanders so it came as no surprise to learn that Hershel was a very shy man. He was the shyest man and it was very awkward talking with him at first.
Robert Shaw (left), Hershel West (centre) and his miniature poodle Topper
Shari took some pictures of Hershal and showed them to Steven Spielberg. It wasn’t clear to either Shari or Steven where to place Hershel in the movie but they knew they wanted him.
After some hard work, Shari convinced Hershel to agree to a meeting with the Hollywood folk. The normally inconspicuous West arrived at his casting call clean-shaven and sporting a jacket and tie, a far cry from his normally bedraggled appearance. He had been a party the night before and was cleaned up by one of the hosts who had heard about his casting call.
“When Hershal came into town to meet Steven, he was all cleaned up. We told him we wanted him wearing his old clothes, the stuff that had been buried in the bottom of his boat for years, which I think relieved him quite a bit. That was the way Steven wanted him - straight off the dock.”
The role had originally been planned for a 20 year old girl. Hershel and his miniature poodle Topper were brought in to replace her. They were getting actor’s pay ($135 dollars a day). Hershel would later be transporting the generator on his own boat and got a cheeky $1400 for the week.
Salvatore was Hershel’s one and only acting role went back to living a quiet life. On occasion, he spoke about his experiences of making the movie including the documentaries The Shark Is Still Working and Jaws: The 25th Anniversary Documentary. Hershal passed away on May 3rd 2018 on his beloved Martha’s Vineyard.
Words by Ross Williams
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