There are movie stars who get their names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There are movie stars who end up on magazine covers, in theme parks and on lunch boxes.
And then there is Bruce.
The 25-foot-long fiberglass shark from Jaws has had a pretty unconventional career trajectory. He went from Hollywood attraction to junkyard landmark, spent more than 25 years outdoors surrounded by wrecked cars and farm animals. Then Bruce somehow emerged from it all as one of the most remarkable objects in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
Today, Bruce hangs 30 feet above the museum’s main escalator in Los Angeles. At 25 feet long, he has another distinction: he is the largest object in the museum’s collection.
And here’s the twist that makes his survival even more amazing: Bruce wasn’t actually one of the three sharks that appeared in Jaws.
He was the one that came afterward.
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The sharks that couldn’t handle the ocean
When Steven Spielberg made Jaws in 1975, filmmakers built three mechanical sharks for the production. They were designed to look terrifying on camera. And, ideally, they were supposed to work when the cameras were rolling.
But that second part proved considerably more difficult. The sharks, made with latex and rubber, were repeatedly battered by the saltwater around Martha’s Vineyard. They malfunctioned so often that the production fell behind schedule and went over budget.
Production designer Joe Alves, who helped create the sharks, later remembered just how serious the problem became. “We were in deep trouble,” said Alves. Once filming was over, the three original sharks were abandoned. Their materials deteriorated, and eventually all three were destroyed or rotted away. Then Jaws became a phenomenon.
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Meet the fourth shark
Jaws opened in the summer of 1975 and became a box-office sensation. Universal had a new problem: what to do with the movie’s enormous success. And what about the giant shark that had helped make it possible?
The studio used the original shark mold created for the production to make another shark, this time in fiberglass. This fourth shark wasn’t intended to perform in the ocean. He was built to be seen.
For about 15 years, he hung at Universal Studios Hollywood, where visitors could pose with the giant creature. Somewhere along the way, he acquired the name Bruce, after Spielberg’s lawyer, Bruce Ramer.
Then Hollywood’s interest in the old shark apparently ran out.
Around 1990, Universal discarded Bruce along with other old props and stunt vehicles. Which is where the story gets wonderfully weird.
Bruce at the junkyard
Bruce was purchased by Sam Adlen, owner of Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking in Sun Valley, California. Most people might have looked at a 25-foot fiberglass shark and wondered what on earth they were going to do with it.
Adlen knew exactly what he was going to do. He put Bruce on display at the junkyard. The shark became a landmark. Bruce loomed over a place filled with cars and car parts. But the junkyard had an even more unusual feature: real animals lived beneath Bruce. There were chickens, a cow and, at one point, a bull.
So while other former movie stars were getting pampered in Hollywood, Bruce was spending his days keeping watch over an auto wrecking yard.
There was even a little show-business strategy. Adlen added an extra “a” to the company’s name to improve its position in the telephone book. This was back when alphabetic listings could make a difference in attracting customers.
Bruce stayed. And stayed. And stayed. For roughly 26 years, he accumulated layers of dirt, paint and wasp nests. Yet remarkably, the fiberglass shark held up.
Sam’s son, Nathan Adlen, who inherited the junkyard and Bruce, was amazed by the condition of the giant shark. “It’s just amazing what good shape he’s in for having been outside for so many years,” said Adlen. By then, Bruce had become much more than an old piece of movie memorabilia.
From junkyard treasure to museum treasure
When Nathan Adlen eventually sold the junkyard, he sold most of what was there. But he didn’t sell Bruce. Instead, despite receiving offers for the shark, Adlen decided to donate him to the Academy Museum.
In a statement about the donation, Adlen described just how attached his family had become to their enormous fiberglass tenant: “Bruce caught the eye of my father, Sam Adlen, at first glance back in 1990, and for many years he’s been like a member of the family.”
Now the Academy had its own very large family member. There was just one small issue. How do you move a 25-foot shark?
Moving a movie monster
Sonja Wong, who managed new objects coming into the museum, knew immediately that Bruce was going to present some logistical challenges. “I think it was more the face that I made,” she said. “It’s a challenge because it’s so large. It’s kind of an awkward shape too.”
Awkward is an understatement
Bruce measures 25 feet long, 12.5 feet wide and 8 feet high. His body is fiberglass, with acrylic paint and an urethane topcoat; his teeth are urethane plastic, his eyes are acrylic and a steel structure runs inside the shark for support.
Getting him from the junkyard to his new home required a sling, a crane and a very large truck. The metal poles supporting him were cut so that the shark could be lifted and secured inside a specially built crate.
After decades outside, Bruce was finally headed somewhere with considerably better living conditions. No more California sun. No more rain. No more wasp nests. And definitely no more junkyard.
A Hollywood ending for Bruce
Once Bruce arrived at the Academy Museum, special-effects veteran Greg Nicotero led a meticulous seven-month restoration, bringing the battered shark back toward his original appearance.
Now Bruce occupies a special spot above the museum’s main escalator, suspended 30 feet in the air. The three sharks that actually went into the ocean for Jaws are gone. The fourth shark—the one made after the movie became a blockbuster, the one that never had to swim, and the one that wound up in a junkyard—survived.
And after all those years, Bruce is finally being treated like the movie legend he is. He just has an unusual address. As Sonja Wong put it when asked where the enormous shark would be kept: “Secure, undisclosed,” she said. “But thankfully not my house.”
Next, Steven Spielberg Wasn’t the Original Director! 15 Fun Facts About the Blockbuster Jaws
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