Marc Gilpin, the actor who played the youngest son of police chief Roy Scheider in the movie Jaws 2, died on Saturday July 30 in Dallas after battling cancer for many years.
The artist’s death has shocked fans of the film saga, since he was only 56 years old and was one of the most beloved characters in the film directed by Jeannot Szwarc.
The person in charge of making the news of Marc Gilpin’s death public was his sister, Peri Gilpin, an American artist known for her role in the television series Frasier or Make it or Break it.
The deceased became well known after succeeding with the sequel to the 1975 film Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The boy was just 11 years old when the movie hit theaters around the world.
Although many people expected Spielberg to direct the second film in the saga, that task fell to Jeannot Szwarc. While Lorraine Gary returned as Police Chief Brody’s wife in Jaws 2, her sons, Michael and Sean, played by actors Chris Rebello and Jay Mello in the original film, were replaced by two new faces: Mark Gruner and Marc Gilpin.
A year after his participation in this film, Gilpin participated with his younger sister, April, in Fantasy Island and in 1981, he was part of the main cast of some films, such as The Legend of the Long Ranger and Earthbound. After a few more television appearances, the man decided to change his life and became a software engineer.
The actor had spent many years fighting against cancer that has cost him his life. On this occasion, Gilpin was suffering from glioblastoma, a type of malignant tumor that begins with the development of cells in the brain or spinal cord that can reproduce rapidly and invade and destroy healthy tissue. As explained by the Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes, which provide support to neurons.
In May 2022, a fundraiser was organized to help the actor and his wife Kaki with, as well as their two children, as they were going through a severe financial crisis and barely had any money to survive. In May 2022, doctors discovered that the actor had two brain tumors and that one was located in the central area, so there was no possibility of surgery. Although the sick man and his wife updated the actor’s status on the crowdfunding page and explained that he was better after the summer of 2022, the actor’s struggle became unbearable until he finally passed away a few days ago.
