Oh My God! The horror actress who cut her teeth on JAWS

Fright Night (1985) is a classic vampire horror film which features some great effects, writing and a fang-tastic cast including Roddy McDowall and Chris Sarandon...but did you know it also features someone from JAWS (1975)?

Fright Night is like Hitchcock's Rear Window by way of Salem's Lot, and was written and directed by Tom Holland, who earlier wrote the script for Psycho II.

A cloud in the shape of a killer vampire

He would go on to direct the original Child’s Play, which boasted Bill Butler as its Director of Photography, who also performed the same duties on JAWS.

It is in fact Charley Brewster's mum who was in the Steven Spielberg shark classic you'll know her as the pitch perfect "oh my god" woman in the sea in the beach panic scene caused by the cardboard fin.

This scene was perfectly copied in the JAWS WeMake, which thrilled JAWS fans across the world during lockdown.

And one of those cardboard fin kids would go on to become a real life Chief Brody.

Fitting then that actress Dorothy Fielding went from one film focused on teeth to another that also had bite.

Fielding, would have appeared in another scene - this time featuring Quint (played by Robert Shaw) - which ended up on the cutting room floor, although is now available as a deleted scene and made it to the ABC television extended cut showings of JAWS in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The scene in question is when Quint goes to the music store, where Fielding’s character works, to buy some piano wire to use on the Orca as fishing line and puts off the kid playing ode to joy on his clarinet. It wasn't just Hooper who had a rough time.

That frightened child wasn't the only clarinet player on set as Spielberg even played his on Martha's Vineyard. In fact, his clarinet playing even ended up on the JAWS soundtrack by John Williams.

Words by Dean Newman

If you would like to write for The Daily Jaws, please visit our ‘work with us’ page.

For all the latest Jaws, shark and shark movie news, follow The Daily Jaws on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.