"Real" Quint dies on Vineyard

Lynn Murphy, Menemsha Salt Who Inspired Character in Movie Jaws, Dies at 88

From the Vineyard Gazette

Lynn Murphy, a longtime Chilmark resident and salty Menemsha waterfront character, died at home Thursday morning. He was 88 and had been a fixture on the Menemsha waterfront since just after the second World War. He also helped inspire the character Quint played by Robert Shaw in the movie Jaws.

Craig Kingsbury, another Island character, worked with Mr. Shaw directly on Quint, the crusty harpooner in Jaws, the blockbuster movie filmed on the Vineyard in the summer of 1974. But in a 2011 Gazette interview about his book Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard, author Matt Taylor said it was Lynn Murphy who provided the pivotal inspiration at a time of need.

“As the story goes, Robert Shaw was having difficulty one day with how to deliver one of his lines,” Mr. Taylor said. “As he was speaking to Spielberg about this, Lynn was in the background hollering at one of the crew members about an anchor line or something, totally losing it, and Steven stopped Robert and said ‘You hear that? That’s how I want you to sound. From now on Lynn is Quint.’

“Interviewing people in Hollywood, almost every single one of them across the board said to me, ‘If it weren’t for Lynn Murphy Jaws probably never would have seen the light of day.’”