Posted on 05/19/2022 7:13:26 PM PDT by lowbridge
From co-starring in “Jaws” to enforcing the laws.
Jonathan Searle has been named the new police chief of Oak Bluffs — 47 years after he filmed Steven Spielberg’s iconic shark shocker in the same Massachusetts town that went by the fictional name of Amity in the classic summer blockbuster.
His appointment generated a big bite of buzz when the tiny town’s board announced it had voted 3-1 to offer the top cop role to the longtime community servant.
“I’m finding the whole thing quite funny myself!” Searle, 56, told The Post on Thursday amid all the fuss on the island located south of Cape Cod.
Oak Bluffs, which is home to just over 5,000 full-time residents, is part of ritzy Martha’s Vineyard, where “Jaws” was shot back in 1975.
In that movie, Searle and his real-life brother, Steven, memorably played two pranksters who caused mass panic on the beach after swimming into the ocean with a cardboard fin.
Searle is actually a real-life native of Martha’s Vineyard, and chose not to pursue a movie career despite his role in one of the most famous films of all time.
Instead, the former child actor — and son of police chief George Searle, who served on the force for 30 years, and held the top cop role from 1981 to 1995 — joined the PD in nearby Edgartown back in 1986.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This is weird. Every once in a while I pull a Paul Harvey’s “rest of the story” looking for extra details. In this case I was curious if Jonathan Searle played the older brother or the younger. So I went to IMDB (Internet Movie Database) and looked it up.
IMDB says that Chris Rebello played the younger brother Michael Brody and Jay Mello played the older brother Sean Brody. It also says that there was a John Searle (born 1937) who played a bit part in the movie.
This ain’t even close to what this news story says! I have no idea which account is correct - I just thought it curious.
Additionally, IMDB search results for “Jonathan Searle” shows a Jonathan Searle (Visual Effects, Accident (2017)), a Jonathan Searles (II) (Special Effects, The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)), and a Jonathan Searles (I) (Writer, The Traveler MacWhirr (2012)).
No Jonathan Searle - actor.
Curiouser and Curiouser....
I’ve been to where that was filmed. There is a lake at Universal Studios where that and the scene where the girl was attacked by the shark by the buoy.
The article says who he played. Not a Brody son, one of the two pranker kids that swam under a fake shark fin and caused a riot on the beach. A memorable moment from a bit role.
hard to believe it was nearly 1/2 century ago the film was made-
Didn’t he have a M-1 Garande pointed at him during the scene?
Thanks for the clarification - it’s been a few years ;’}
Searle (right) and his real-life brother, Steven, memorably played two pranksters who caused mass panic on the beach after swimming into the ocean with a cardboard fin.
Nice..Jaws was a great movie...If Hollywood reboot it. They will say the shark is angry due to globally warming, plastics in the ocean and MAGA People - or some others bull 💩!!
It’s all fun and games now, wait til the shark shows up. Then what’s going to happen to your summer business?
If Hollywood reboots it, they'll have a crappy CGI shark in every other scene unlike the original, which rarely showed the shark because the animatronic one they built never worked right. Spielberg had to use composer John William's music score to build tension.
Today's ADHD-addled kids would be shouting, "Where's the shark? This movie sucks!"
“Today’s ADHD-addled kids would be shouting, “Where’s the shark? This movie sucks!” “
There is at least one present day 11 yr old who wouldn’t shout any such thing. When I asked him why he didn’t want to watch Jaws with me he responded “Because I want to go swimming when we go to the beach”.
Hope he never needs a bigger boat!
I visited Universal in LA some decades ago. They still had not gotten the shark to work, hence, the closed "Jaws" exhibit.
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