You’ll Never Guess Which SIMPSONS Voice Actor was On the Beach in JAWS—Kind Of

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Nov 23, 2018

The eagle-eyed administrators at The Daily Jaws Twitter account noticed that a certain prominent Simpsons actor appeared on the film’s IMDB Page: Harry Shearer, who lends his voice characters including Ned Flanders, Montgomery Burns, Reverend Lovejoy, Waylon Smithers, Dr. Hibbert, and even the stoned-out bus driver Otto Mann (bet you never knew his last name before).

On Jaws’ IMDB page, Shearer is listed as an uncredited beachgoer. @thedailyjaws was keen to know if the sometimes-unreliable database was correct and went right to the source; a Thanksgiving tweet also inquired if Shearers is actually visible in the film? Luckily, Shearer replied both confirming and denying that he is indeed in Jaws.

Let me explain: Shearer responded that he was part of an early “loop group”, a crew of voice actors who made stock recordings of situations to be used in the background of films and TV shows. They’d cram into a single studio and act out scenarios, such as a raging party, a somber funeral, or an alien invasion. It was one of Shearer’s “loop tapes”, a day at the beach scenario, that made its way into Steven Spielberg’s early opus, Jaws.

So, is Shearer in Jaws? His voice is, though most likely buried in a jumble of background noise, indecipherable and indistinguishable. Still, it was enough to earn him an IMDB credit on one of the most classic and enduring horror movies ever made. Ironically, Shearer also revealed that he was once incorrectly listed as a cast member in Space Balls!

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