--- name: "Robert Shaw" canonical: "https://film.one/person/robert-shaw" fi1m_id: "robert-shaw" imdb_id: "nm0001727" tmdb_id: 8606 wikidata_id: "Q313727" roles: ["Actor"] born: "9 August 1927" died: "28 August 1978" reviewed_on_fi1m: 5 average_fi1m_score: 85 average_as: "actor" average_over: 5 updated: "2026-09-25T04:52:23.134916+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." --- # Robert Shaw ## Identity Robert Shaw - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/robert-shaw - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** robert-shaw - **IMDb ID:** nm0001727 - **TMDB ID:** 8606 - **Wikidata ID:** Q313727 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Shaw, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313727, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001727/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8606 Actor. Born 9 August 1927 in Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK. Died 28 August 1978. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 9 August 1927, Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK - **Died:** 28 August 1978 - **Active:** 1951–1975 - **Also known as:** Роберт Шоу, رابرت شاو, Robert Archibald Shaw - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 85, as actor, over 5 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 82 (1), 1960s 82 (2), 1970s 89 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 85 to 83 across 5 titles - **Score spread:** 5 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 4 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Adventure 2, Comedy 2, Crime 2, Drama 2, Thriller 2, Action 1 - **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $738m across 5 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Shaw, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313727, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001727/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8606 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Jaws*](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) (93) - **The Roku Channel:** [*A Man for All Seasons*](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) (81) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Robert Shaw > Robert Shaw played hard men who were sure of themselves and let the certainty do the work, so Lonnegan in *The Sting* and Quint in *Jaws* are frightening and funny at once. When he overplayed, he did it grandly, and it seldom cost the film. Watch Doyle Lonnegan lose at cards in *The Sting* (1973). Robert Shaw does not bluster, does not signal that he is the villain, and does not let us know he finds any of it funny. He simply refuses to be charmed, and because everybody else in the film is charming, the refusal becomes the joke. Two years later, as Quint in *Jaws* (1975), he does the opposite with the same equipment: the relish is out in the open, and the heavier presence he brings aboard makes Brody and Hooper look like men who have wandered into the wrong story. In both cases the trick is certainty. Shaw's men know exactly who they are, and we are left to decide whether to be scared or amused. He came to this from the classical stage. His early years were spent with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford and the Old Vic, and there is stage voice and stage stillness in everything he did on film. Television gave him *The Buccaneers* (1956–57). The film breakthrough was Red Grant, the assassin in *From Russia with Love* (1963), and it fixed his casting for years: menacing, physical, deep-voiced, the hard man in the corner. *A Man for All Seasons* (1966) gave him Henry VIII and a licence to be loud with a purpose. Then the American films of the 1970s, *The Sting*, *The Taking of Pelham One Two Three* (1974) and *Jaws*, made him a familiar face rather than a familiar type, and *Robin and Marian* (1976) put him opposite Sean Connery as the Sheriff of Nottingham. *Jaws* is the performance people remember, and rightly. He reworked parts of the Indianapolis speech himself, and it is the one stretch of the film in which the shark can be forgotten entirely. We have seen it many times and it still makes us hold our breath; Shaw tells the story of a sinking as if it were a fishing anecdote, and the flatness is what makes it awful. Elsewhere he pushes Quint towards the theatrical, and beside Roy Scheider's quieter, more practical fear the pushing shows. It is a fault, and we said so, but it is the fault of an actor enjoying a part built to be enjoyed. Lonnegan is the more disciplined piece of work. A con film needs someone who will not be conned easily, and Shaw's severity gives Paul Newman and Robert Redford something to push against. He is funnier there than in *Jaws* because he never once asks for the laugh. The later films were uneven, and he knew it. Some, *Force 10 from Navarone* (1978) among them, were taken partly for the money, and he told Dick Cavett in 1971 that "when you're working, it's terrible because you're usually doing rubbish." The remedy is to watch *The Sting* and *Jaws* back to back. In neither is he the lead, and in both the film changes temperature when he walks in. ## Biography Robert Archibald Shaw (9 August 1927 – 28 August 1978) was an English actor, novelist and playwright. Born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, he began his career on the stage after the Second World War, appearing with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and later with the Old Vic company in productions of Shakespeare plays. Shaw achieved prominence in film with roles including Donald 'Red' Grant in *From Russia with Love* (1963), King Henry VIII in *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), Doyle Lonnegan in *The Sting* (1973) and Mr Blue in *The Taking of Pelham One Two Three* (1974). He is best remembered for his performance as the shark hunter Quint in *Jaws* (1975). He was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for *A Man for All Seasons*. Shaw also wrote novels and plays, including *The Hiding Place* and *The Man in the Glass Booth*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.* ## On Fi1m (5) - *Jaws* (1975), Fi1m 93, as Quint — [page](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) - *The Sting* (1973), Fi1m 85, as Doyle Lonnegan — [page](https://film.one/film/the-sting.md) - *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), Fi1m 81, as King Henry VIII — [page](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) - *From Russia with Love* (1963), Fi1m 84, as Donald 'Red' Grant — [page](https://film.one/film/from-russia-with-love.md) - *The Lavender Hill Mob* (1951), Fi1m 82, as Chemist at Police Exhibition — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob.md) ## Complete filmography (56) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Discovering Hamlet* (2011), as Claudius (archive footage) - *Avalanche Express* (1979), as General Markenkov - *The Horror Show* (1979), as (archive footage) - *Force 10 from Navarone* (1978), as Mallory - *The Deep* (1977), as Romer Treece - *Black Sunday* (1977), as Kabakov - *Swashbuckler* (1976), as Ned Lynch - *Robin and Marian* (1976), as Sheriff of Nottingham - *Diamonds* (1975), as Charles / Earl Hodgson - *Jaws* (1975), as Quint — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/jaws.md) - *End of the Game* (1975), as Richard Gastmann - *The Man in the Glass Booth* (1975), Theatre Play - *The Taking of Pelham One Two Three* (1974), as Blue - *The Break* (1974), as Giles - *The Sting* (1973), as Doyle Lonnegan — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/the-sting.md) - *The Golden Voyage of Sinbad* (1973), as The Oracle of all knowledge - *The Hireling* (1973), as Steven Ledbetter - *A Reflection of Fear* (1972), as Michael - *Young Winston* (1972), as Lord Randolph Churchill - *A Town Called Bastard* (1971), as The Priest - *Figures in a Landscape* (1970), as MacConnachie · Writer - *The Royal Hunt of the Sun* (1969), as Francisco Pizarro - *Battle of Britain* (1969), as Squadron Leader Skipper - *The Birthday Party* (1968), as Stanley Webber - *Luther* (1968), as Martin Luther - *Custer of the West* (1967), as General George Armstrong Custer - *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), as King Henry VIII — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) - *Battle of the Bulge* (1965), as Col Hessler - *Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious* (1965), Novel - *Carol for Another Christmas* (1964), as Ghost of Christmas Future - *The Luck of Ginger Coffey* (1964), as Ginger Coffey - *Hamlet at Elsinore* (1964), as Claudius - *The Caretaker* (1964), as Aston - *From Russia with Love* (1963), as Donald 'Red' Grant — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/from-russia-with-love.md) - *Festival* (1963), series, as Simone - *Tomorrow at Ten* (1963), as Marlowe - *The Valiant* (1962), as Lieutenant Field - *The Winter's Tale* (1962), as Leontes - *North to the Dales* (1962), as Narrator (voice) - *Danger Man* (1960), series, as Tony Costello - *Playhouse 90: The Hiding Place* (1960), Novel - *Libel* (1959), as First Photographer - *The Adventures of William Tell* (1958), series, as Peter von Breck - *Sea Fury* (1958), as Gorman - *Rupert of Hentzau* (1957), as Rupert of Hentzau - *White Hunter* (1957), series, Actor - *Holiday* (1957), as Narrator (voice) - *The Buccaneers* (1956), series, as Capt. Dan Tempest - *A Hill in Korea* (1956), as LCpl. Hodge - *Doublecross* (1956), as Ernest - *The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel* (1955), series, as Lord Anthony Dewhurst - *The Dam Busters* (1955), as Flt / Sgt. J. Pulford, D.F.M. - *Yorkshire Sands* (1955), as Narrator (voice) - *The Lavender Hill Mob* (1951), as Chemist at Police Exhibition — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lavender-hill-mob.md) - *Sunday Night Theatre* (1950), series, as Herbert - *The Making of Pelham One Two Three*, Actor ## Gallery - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-5182b320d8a8.jpg) Robert Shaw — Official Films, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Robert_Shaw.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest on The Buccaneers (1957)](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-859cc1db8584.jpg) Robert Shaw as Dan Tempest on The Buccaneers (1957) — Uncredited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Robert_Shaw_-_Radio_TV_Mirror%2C_July_1957.jpg/1280px-Robert_Shaw_-_Radio_TV_Mirror%2C_July_1957.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Monument to Robert Shaw (closeup) at Tourmackeady, Co. Mayo, Ireland (2009)](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-d539a87adf88.jpg) Monument to Robert Shaw (closeup) at Tourmackeady, Co. Mayo, Ireland (2009) — ClintMalpaso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/ShawMonument02.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Advertisement for The Buccaneers (1958)](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-2e61adfac82e.jpg) Advertisement for The Buccaneers (1958) — Official Films, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5d/The_Buccaneers_-_Sponsor%2C_September_13%2C_1958.jpg/1280px-The_Buccaneers_-_Sponsor%2C_September_13%2C_1958.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-66e1b4926e8b.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-9f541754fea6.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-d9ae98046ad1.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-a2ded5bc184d.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-49e9a212da47.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB - ![Robert Shaw](https://film.one/media/person/59839/gallery-7d1fbda0510a.jpg) Robert Shaw — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1967: Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *A Man for All Seasons* ### Other awards — 1 won - Hawthornden Prize 1962: Hawthornden Prize (won) *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/robert-shaw