WHY THE SHARK FROM JAWS WAS NAMED 'BRUCE'

The great white shark in Jaws is never given a name, but off screen, during the production of the 1975 classic, it got names aplenty.

The mechanical shark was known as everything from the great white turd to flaws, both because of him not always working very well in the salt water. But the one name that stuck and is fondly used by Jaws fans to this day is that of Bruce the shark.

And as many will know, that name was given to the shark star by Steven Spielberg himself, naming him after his lawyer Bruce Ramer.

But who is Bruce (the lawyer)?

He's not 25 feet long and doesn't weigh three tons, but he is a top entertainment lawyer who has had Clint Eastwood as a client since 1966 and Spielberg since before he made Duel (1971).

The young film director and the entertainment lawyer hit it off when they first met over 50 years ago, which probably explains why he takes the Jaws shark reference with such good grace.

Bruce told superlawyers.com: "He came in, we clicked, he stayed. We've had a great, fun time. He was a wonderful guy then, and he's never changed."

Speaking to Harvard Law Today in 2010, Ramer joked that he's named for the good qualities of the shark from Jaws, adding: "They never paid me a royalty — that's all I know."

In an interview for superlawyers.com, he was asked if he was really like a shark, he said: "I think sharks serve their purpose. But it still has a slightly pejorative ring to it, don't you think?"

Ramer was born on August 2, 1933 and studied law at both Princeton and Harvard in the 1950s.

With such a long career at the top of his game as an entertainment lawyer, that has also seen him represent Robert Zemeckis and Milos Foreman, Bruce may not be a shark, but the man who was once named by California Business Lawyer as one of the 100 most powerful lawyers in the state, is certainly an apex lawyer.

It almost seems fitting that his shark namesake now sits guard above the other film artefacts in a mecca of film entertainment history, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA. Bruce was restored by special effects legend and huge Jaws fan Greg Nicotero.

The Daily Jaws caught up for an exclusive interview with him about the former broken shark, which was rescued from a junkyard, and lovingly restored.  

Words by Dean Newman

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