page_title: Jim Harrington
section_title: Jaws
hierarchical_section_title: Jim Harrington / Jaws
caption_attribution_description: English: Jim Harrington climbing the pier while the camera rolls. Man to the right, back to camera, is Steven Spielberg.
context_page_description: James Kane Harrington is an American radio personality of the 1960s through the present and also a published author. He is a graduate of Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and Thomas Edison State College of New Jersey, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication. He is the recipient of Thomas Edison College's Arnold Fletcher Award for Exceptional Achievement.
context_section_description: In early June 1974, the Boston local of AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) sent a message, to all its local members, informing them that Universal Pictures was filming the motion picture Jaws, on Martha's Vineyard and they were looking for extras. Harrington packed his car and headed for the island. A day into his 'extra' work, First Assistant Director Tom Joyner asked Jim to do some minor stunt work. The previous day, they had filmed a scene where two fishermen tried to catch the shark by attaching a chunk of meat to a hook and chain and then tying it to the end of a pier. The script called for the shark to snatch the bait and then, with hook in mouth, rip the dock in half, and take one of the two men on a 'Nantucket sleigh ride'. After being pulled by the shark for some distance, the fisherman was to roll back into the water, swim for the safety and scramble up the other half of the pier. As he's doing this, the shark pulls a U-turn and heads in his direction. The original actor had left Martha's Vineyard and Director Steven Spielberg needed to shoot some additional footage. Harrington was enlisted and spent most of the next day in front of the camera, performing parts of that scene.
caption: Jim Harrington Working in Jaws
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