Peter Benchley

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Peter Bradford Benchley (born May 8, 1940 in New York , † February 11, 2006 in Princeton , New Jersey ) was an American author .

Life

Benchley came from a New York family of writers; his father, Nathaniel Benchley, was a successful writer for children and young people; his grandfather, Robert Benchley, was a famous humorist and actor. In the late 1950s, Peter Benchley studied at Harvard , graduated in 1961 and worked as a journalist for the Washington Post and Newsweek. Later he worked as a speechwriter for the US President Lyndon B. Johnson .

Peter Benchley had his greatest success in 1974 with his book " Jaws " (Jaws) , which was a worldwide bestseller and sold over 20 million times. In this book, Benchley processed incidents that had occurred during the shark attacks on the coast of New Jersey (1916) . The book was made into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1975 , Benchley played a small supporting role in the film. Through the film and his novel, he stoked people's fear of sharks, which he regretted all his life. Benchley tried to educate people about sharks until his death.

Benchley died at the age of 65 from complications from a lung disease.

Awards

Works (selection)

Fiction
Non-fiction
  • Sharks. The shy predators of the seas ("Shark trouble"). Marebuchverlag, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-936384-79-7 .

Film adaptations

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Benchley, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benchley, Peter Bradford (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 2006
Place of death Princeton , New Jersey