--- name: "Lorraine Gary" canonical: "https://film.one/person/lorraine-gary" fi1m_id: "lorraine-gary" imdb_id: "nm0308882" tmdb_id: 8607 wikidata_id: "Q266942" roles: ["Actor"] born: "16 August 1937" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 62 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T17:21:58.678666+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Lorraine Gary ## Identity Lorraine Gary - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lorraine-gary - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** lorraine-gary - **IMDb ID:** nm0308882 - **TMDB ID:** 8607 - **Wikidata ID:** Q266942 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Gary, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q266942, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308882/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8607 Actor. Born 16 August 1937 in New York City, New York, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 16 August 1937, New York City, New York, USA - **Active:** 1975–1987 - **Average Fi1m score:** 62, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 93 (1), 1980s 32 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Gary, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q266942, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0308882/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8607 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Jaws*](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) (93), [*Jaws: The Revenge*](https://film.one/film/jaws-the-revenge.md) (32) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Lorraine Gary > Lorraine Gary makes the family worth worrying about in the *Jaws* films. Her quiet authority suits their domestic scenes; even in *Jaws: The Revenge*, she supplies warmth that the thriller around her badly needs. Lorraine Gary brings a reassuring ordinariness to the domestic scenes of *Jaws* (1975). Playing Ellen Brody alongside Roy Scheider’s Martin Brody, she helps make a family we can care about before the thriller puts them under strain. Her quiet authority suits Steven Spielberg’s patience with his characters; she need not make a fuss to be worth watching. We rate the film so highly partly because its people matter, and Gary’s warmth gives that suspense something to work with. *Jaws* was her first major film role, following television guest work, and Ellen remained the part to which her film career kept returning. She played her again in *Jaws 2* (1978), with more screen time, while *Car Wash* (1976) and Spielberg’s *1941* (1979) gave her room for comedy. Those credits are a useful correction to the idea that she could only play a worried mother. She retired after *1941*, then returned once for *Jaws: The Revenge*. The return gives her far too much worrying to do. In *Jaws: The Revenge* (1987), Gary makes Ellen’s fear convincing, but the film keeps asking her to repeat it until the performance has little room to develop. We were glad of her scenes with Michael Caine because the ease between Ellen and his Hoagie Newcombe gives us a rest from that repeated alarm. Their romance lets Gary be warm company, and for a while we can see why these people might enjoy being together. The film is poor, and Gary’s efforts cannot make the revenge plot or the attacks convincing. Nor should her effectiveness as Ellen narrow our idea of what she could do: the comedy work belongs in the picture too. What the scenes with Caine make clear is how much the later film wastes by keeping her anxious. Choose *Jaws* for her warmth in a thriller that gives us good reason to be afraid. ## Biography Lorraine Gary is an American actress. Born Lorraine Gottfried on 16 August 1937 in Forest Hills, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles and attended Columbia University after winning a best actress award at the Pasadena Playhouse as a teenager. She began her career with guest roles on television series in the late 1960s. Gary is best known for portraying Ellen Brody in *Jaws* (1975), *Jaws 2* (1978) and *Jaws: The Revenge* (1987). Her other film roles include *Car Wash* (1976) and *1941* (1979). She received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in *Jaws: The Revenge*. Gary retired from acting after 1979 but returned briefly for the final Jaws film. She was married to film executive Sidney Sheinberg from 1956 until his death in 2019; their sons are film producers. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Jaws: The Revenge* (1987), Fi1m 32, as Ellen Brody — [page](https://film.one/film/jaws-the-revenge.md) - *Jaws* (1975), Fi1m 93, as Ellen Brody — [page](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) ## Complete filmography (26) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Jaws: The Revenge* (1987), as Ellen Brody — Fi1m 32, [page](https://film.one/film/jaws-the-revenge.md) - *1941* (1979), as Joan Douglas - *Just You and Me, Kid* (1979), as Shirl - *The Crash of Flight 401* (1978), as Emily Mulwray - *Jaws 2* (1978), as Ellen Brody - *Zero to Sixty* (1978), as Billy-Jon - *I Never Promised You a Rose Garden* (1977), as Ester Blake - *Car Wash* (1976), as Hysterical Lady - *Lanigan's Rabbi* (1976), as Myra Galen - *Man on the Outside* (1975), as Nora Griffin - *Jaws* (1975), as Ellen Brody — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) - *Pray for the Wildcats* (1974), as Lila Summerfield - *Kojak* (1973), series, as Ruth Gardner — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/kojak.md) - *A Prowler in the Heart* (1973), as Liz Elliott - *Partners in Crime* (1973), as Margery Jordan - *The Marcus-Nelson Murders* (1973), as Ruthie - *The Rookies* (1972), series, Actor - *McMillan & Wife* (1971), series, as Monica Fontaine - *The City* (1971), as Victoria Ulysses - *Night Gallery* (1970), series, as Barbara Morgan - *McCloud* (1970), series, Actor - *The Name of the Game* (1968), series, as Carla Frazier - *Ironside* (1967), series, as Nurse Green - *Dragnet* (1967), series, as Mrs. Frank - *The F.B.I.* (1965), series, as Angela Norton - *The Virginian* (1962), series, as Martha Young ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress 1988: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress (nominated), for *Jaws: The Revenge* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lorraine-gary