Richard Dreyfuss has pulled out of a major “Jaws” cast reunion for the second time in under a year, citing unspecified personal circumstances days before what was billed as one of the largest gatherings of surviving cast members from the 1975 Spielberg classic.
The 78-year-old actor announced on Instagram on May 22 that he would not attend The Hollywood Show, a fan convention scheduled for May 29 and 30 at the Burbank Airport Hotel in Burbank, California. He offered no specific explanation. “It truly breaks my heart that I won’t be able to attend,” he wrote. “Due to circumstances completely beyond my control, it has become impossible for me to be there in person.”
Event organizers confirmed his absence and said they were “disheartened,” adding that Dreyfuss “was very disappointed too.” For fans who had pre-arranged autograph sessions with the actor, organizers reopened a Send-In Service, allowing them to drop off items at the event for Dreyfuss to sign later.
The reunion proceeds without its most prominent confirmed name. Among those still attending: Jeffrey Kramer, Carla Hogendyk, Steven and Jonathan Searle, Ted Grossman, screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, production designer Joe Alves, and “Designing Jaws” author Dennis Prince. Of the film’s original leading trio, Dreyfuss is the last surviving member — Roy Scheider died in 2008 and Robert Shaw in 1978.
The Hollywood Show cancellation is Dreyfuss’s second withdrawal from a Jaws-related event in less than a year. In July 2025, he canceled his appearance at SharkCon in Tampa, Florida, after being hospitalized with viral bronchitis. In a video filmed from a hospital bed, he told fans his doctors had forbidden him from flying the five hours required to reach the event.
The cancellations arrive against a backdrop of sustained public controversy. In May 2024, Dreyfuss appeared at The Cabot Theater in Beverly, Massachusetts, for a Jaws screening and Q&A, where he made remarks about women in film, the #MeToo movement, transgender youths, and the Academy Awards’ diversity efforts that prompted walkouts from the audience and a formal apology from the venue. He has previously stated that the Academy’s inclusivity guidelines “make me want to vomit.”
Jaws, released June 20, 1975, is widely credited with establishing the commercial template for the modern summer blockbuster. The film celebrated its 50th anniversary last year with theatrical re-releases and an exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
