'Jaws' star Richard Dreyfuss sits out fan convention after viral bronchitis diagnosis
The Oscar-winning actor, beloved for his leading role in the marine horror "Jaws," was forced to sit out an appearance at a shark-themed fan convention on Saturday, July 12, and Sunday, July 13, after falling ill.
In a July 11 Instagram post, SharkCon 2025, a two-day event sponsored by National Geographic, shared a video message from Dreyfuss, in which he informed fans he wouldn't be able to attend the Tampa, Florida, event due to a case of viral bronchitis.
"I've been told by my doctors I cannot fly, and I would have to fly five hours to get there," Dreyfuss, 77, said. "I'm terribly sorry because I had planned to be there and had been looking forward to it."
'I was a jerk': Why Richard Dreyfuss got it wrong about 'Jaws'
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives of Dreyfuss for comment.
SharkCon said in a statement alongside the post that all prepaid autographs and photo ops with Dreyfuss would be automatically refunded to fans. Explaining his absence, Dreyfuss said he didn't "want to get anyone else sick" or worsen his own condition.
"I feel terrible about not showing up, and I'd feel worse about exposing you to this apparently very viral illness," Dreyfuss said. "But there will be other times, and I will make it my business to show up, and I want to wish you all good luck and happiness."
Dive deeper into 'Jaws': 50 years ago, the shark horror scared us senseless. We never got over it.
Viral bronchitis, also known as acute bronchitis, is a type of respiratory illness that is typically caused by a viral infection, such as influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus, rhinovirus (common cold) and coronavirus, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The illness normally goes away on its own in a few weeks, per the Cleveland Clinic, and most individuals don't require extensive treatment. Symptoms often include persistent cough and wheezing, as well as shortness of breath, fever, runny nose and fatigue.
"I want you all to feel very sorry for me and very sorry for yourselves," Dreyfuss jokingly added. "I'm in a lot of pain, and that has to come first – my health – and I feel very good about having the time and enough health."
Dreyfuss starred as marine biologist Matt Hooper in "Jaws," the 1975 thriller about a New England police chief (Roy Scheider) who teams up with Hooper and shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to take down a vicious great white shark attacking beachgoers.
The Steven Spielberg-directed film earned a whopping $260.7 million at the global box office and is widely regarded as the first summer blockbuster. In a 2024 interview with the USA TODAY Network, Dreyfuss reflected that he thought the movie was "going to be a disaster," due to various production issues that included delays, cost overruns and mechanical problems.
"I couldn't imagine how Steven was going to overcome all of the problems that he faced every day," Dreyfuss said. "I know I went on at least one talk show where I said this is a total disaster. And then I went back on that same show and pronounced myself the stupidest actor in America. When I saw the film all put together, I realized I was a jerk."
Contributing: Jim Beckerman, NorthJersey.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
4 minutes ago
- USA Today
Detective on 'Yogurt Shop Murders' is 'confident' he'll solve 34-year-old cold case
In 1991, four teenage girls were killed at a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, then roughly half the size the booming city is now. Eliza Thomas, 17, Amy Ayers, 13, and sisters Jennifer Harbison, 17, and Sarah Harbison, 15, were fatally shot at I Can't Believe It's Yogurt!, formerly located in North Austin. The girls were then set on fire. Nearly 34 years later, the case remains unsolved, and the person(s) responsible walk free, if they're even alive. The grizzly crime, its impact on the victims' families and the decades-long search for the perpetrator(s) are chronicled in HBO's four-part docuseries, 'The Yogurt Shop Murders,' that premiered Aug. 3 (weekly Sundays, 10 ET/PT). Academy Award-winning actor Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCary are executive producers of the project directed by Margaret Brown. Reese Price, the shop's manager recalls the horror of identifying the girls so their families wouldn't have to. Price was just 24 at the time. 'There wasn't anything there to identify,' she remembers in the docuseries. 'Fire is very destructive. It's not forgiving.' Archival footage puts viewers at the yogurt shop on the night of the killings, and Brown says there are 'characters in our show (who) have never talked to anyone else, and we have some facts in our show that have never been explored.' She adds, 'These people went through something so specifically awful, but I do think there's something in that for everyone. We're all going to experience pain, and I felt like for me, this was a way to look at this fascinating case, at the same time an exploration of how do people deal with something this hard (and) what can we learn from that?' Brown remembers when she moved to Austin in the late '90s when she says billboards asking for information on the case plastered the sky. One of the reasons she signed on for the project is 'because a lot of my friends who are crime reporters said this is the most interesting crime that exists,' Brown says in an interview. 'There's not one with more rabbit holes. This is the mothership of interesting crime.' Rumors linger in the city like Texas summer heat, Brown says. 'Before I talked to you, some woman wrote me on Instagram (saying) she solved it,' Brown says. 'I think that people are obsessed with it.' In 2022, Detective Dan Jackson was assigned the case on his first day with the Austin Police Department's cold case unit. The 45-year-old who was raised about 30 miles southwest of Austin in San Marcos remembers hearing about the murders as a child. 'It's such a huge case,' Jackson tells USA TODAY. 'I sort of knew at that point I would be with it forever.' When asked about why the case remains open today Jackson points to the crime scene and potential evidence scorched by fire and drenched by hoses to extinguish the blaze. Two men were previously found guilty in connection to the crimes. Robert Springsteen received a death sentence in 2001 for killing Ayers, and Michael Scott was sentenced to life for the death of Ayers the following year. But their convictions were overturned. Scott and Springsteen declined to be in the docuseries, Brown says. But Springsteen is captured in footage previously filmed for another project around 2009. Springsteen shocks a sales associate helping him find clothes for an interview and court when he says, 'I'm sure you probably think it's really funny, but we're doing a documentary because I just got off death row.' A DNA sample from the crime scene belongs to neither Scott nor Springsteen. Jackson is hoping to build a profile from the sample that leads him to a suspect. 'One of the things that we want the public to know is that this case is active,' he says. 'It's constantly worked on.' And Jackson remains optimistic as forensic technology continues to improve. 'If I didn't think I could solve it then why get up every day?' he says. 'I think that with new technology, new information that we have − that I can't go into − even since I've taken the case over, the ability to do more with less when it comes to forensics is light years ahead than it was a few years ago. When I started, we needed a certain amount (of DNA). We weren't even close to it, but that amount that you need is so much less now.' He adds, 'I am confident that I will solve this.' He's also hopeful that the docuseries could lead to the tip that cracks open the case. 'Somebody out there knows something,' he says. 'That's one of the things with cold cases is that you do get people overtime that, for whatever reason, may not have been willing to come forward years ago that now feel more comfortable. Or they thought it was something small and didn't ever say anything and they're like well, maybe I should call in this time and mention it. Who knows? It could be the break we need.' If you have any information about the case, visit or send an email to yogurtshop@
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
YouTube Experiments With New Display of Collaborators on Clips
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. YouTube's testing a new option that will enable creators to add collaborators to the video title display, in order to help showcase a broader range of creators across its clips. As explained by YouTube: 'We're starting to test a feature that allows creators to add collaborators to a video. Adding collaborators allows content to be recommended to each of the creators' audiences. We're starting this test with a small group of creators at first, but we'll keep you posted on our plans to expand it to more creators.' As you can see in this example from the latest video posted by MrBeast, the new option will display collaborators on a video both via their channel avatars, which will be stacked alongside each other, and within the creator listing beneath the title. Tap on the '…and 3 more' tag and you'll get a full title listing of the channels that have collaborated on the clip. The option is similar to the collaborative tools available on Instagram or TikTok, providing a simple way to showcase a partner profile within the video description. Which could be a valuable connector and promotional tool, providing a more direct link through to collaborating channels, which could see more traffic headed their way, especially if they collaborate with a bigger channel. It's worth noting, however, that YouTube has been encouraging creator collaborations for years, with its YouTube Academy training resource including a whole segment on collaborating with others, and how to do so effectively. So collaborations, in themselves, are not new, but YouTube's looking for a better way to highlight these partnerships within the content itself, so that creators get equal share of the benefits from their shared clips. And it's a logical, simple way to do this, which people are already used to in other apps. As such, this seems very likely to be expanded to all YouTube channels in the near future. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Loni Anderson, star of TV hit 'WKRP in Cincinnati,' dies at 79
Actress Loni Anderson, best known for her role on the 1970s and '80s TV sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati," has died at 79. Anderson, who played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS comedy about the staff of an AM radio station in Ohio, died on Sunday, Aug. 3, at a Los Angeles hospital following "an acute prolonged illness," the actress's representative Cheryl J. Kagan confirmed to USA TODAY. Anderson earned two Primetime Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy for her performance as Marlowe during the four-year run of "WKRP." She was the ex-wife of movie star Burt Reynolds. This is a developing story.
