Peter Benchley

Peter Benchley
Benchley being interviewed about Jaws in "A Look Inside Jaws", produced by Laurent Bouzereau.
Born	Peter Bradford Benchley (1940-05-08)May 8, 1940 New York City, U.S.
Died	February 11, 2006(2006-02-11) (aged 65) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications of pulmonary fibrosis
Occupation	Author, Screenwriter
Years active	1967–2006
Spouse(s)	Winifred "Wendy" Wesson (m. 1964–2006; his death)
Website	www.peterbenchley.com

Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote the novel Jaws and co-wrote its subsequent film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for cinema, including The Deep, The Island, Beast, and White Shark.

Later in life, Benchley came to regret writing such sensationalist literature about sharks, which he felt encouraged excessive fear and unnecessary culls of such an important predator in ocean ecosystems and became an outspoken advocate for marine conservation.

He was the son of Marjorie (née Bradford) and author Nathaniel Benchley and grandson of Algonquin Round Table founder Robert Benchley. His younger brother, Nat Benchley, is a writer and actor. Peter Benchley was an alumnus of the Allen-Stevenson School, Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University.

After graduating from college in 1961, Benchley travelled around the world for a year. The experience was told in his first book, a travel memoir titled Time and a Ticket, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1964. Following his return to America, Benchley spent six months reserve duty in the Marine Corps, and then became a reporter for The Washington Post. While dining at an inn in Nantucket, Benchley met Winifred "Wendy" Wesson, whom he dated and then married the following year, 1964. By then Benchley was in New York, working as television editor for Newsweek. In 1967 he became a speechwriter in the White House for President Lyndon B. Johnson, and saw the birth of his daughter Tracy.