JAWS 2's lost actress Sarah Holcomb
Hello, Islanders!
One of the things I’m most proud of is that I was able to track down every one of the Amity Kids from JAWS 2 for my book. The actors that are in the kids as well as the ones that were originally cast and then replaced. Except for one. That actor was Sarah Holcomb.
To film fans, Sarah Holcomb is probably best known for her roles as the mayor’s daughter who attends the Toga Party in Animal House and as Maggie, Michael O’Keefe’s girlfriend in Caddyshack. These are two of the only four films she did between 1978 – 1980. She also appears in the “Saturday Night Live” inspired Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, a collection of sketches created by SNL’s first head writer, Michael O’Donoghue. Then, nothing. I was curious how someone who had started off with roles in two of the most popular comedies of all time could just up and disappear? The answer was not as simple as I thought it would be.
Sarah Holcomb is truly Hollywood’s mystery girl. I began searching for Sarah in early 2012, following leads that led me to her musician brother, David. I reached out to him via social media, but heard nothing back. Until February 2015. Oddly, as I was planning a final research trip to Los Angeles, I finally received a message from David Holcomb. He apologized for not getting back to me sooner due to the fact that he rarely checked his Twitter account. To me it was fate that he did. I explained who I was and what I was doing. He told me he would extend my offer to Sarah and would let me know. We also agreed to meet in a couple of weeks when I was in L.A.
Before my trip David contacted me and informed me that, while Sarah was appreciative of the offer, she declined to speak with me. While I was disappointed at least I knew I had done my due diligence in trying to speak with everyone. It was only after David and I met up in California did I learn the real reason Sarah left Hollywood.
If you were young in the early 1980s – guilty – you were surrounded by all kinds of temptations. If you were young in the early 1980s and in Hollywood…well, pretty much nothing was off limits. As David explained it to me, Sarah found herself going down a path she did not want to travel. Despite her best efforts, she would invariably end up in situations she did not want to be a part of. In 2006, Animal Houseco-writer Chris Miller was asked about Sarah during an interview with the “Mr. Skin” website, a site where you can look up any film and find out exactly where in the film there is nudity. Miller commented:
“[Holcomb] was young, younger than the rest of us. We were a fast crowd. Drugs were everywhere. She fell into what, for lack of a better term, you would have to call bad company.”
Sadly, this was the story for many young people in the 1980s.
David shared some fun stories with me and we said our goodbyes. When the book was published I sent both he and Sarah a copy. A week later I received a lovely note from David thanking me for the way I handled Sarah’s story in the book.
In the 45-years since her film debut, Sarah Holcomb has almost become an urban legend. In the late 2000s an online blog about a chance meeting with her drew millions of views. As movie fans we are left to wonder what kind of achievements the talented, young actress would have had. And while we may lament the fact that she only did four films, we must rejoice in the fact that she recognized the path she was on and changed it. That is the ultimate achievement.
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
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