Richard Dreyfuss hospitalized, cancels SharkCon appearance

If you had planned to catch Richard Dreyfuss at this year’s Sharkcon, start preparing for next year.

The legendary actor and Jaws Star published a declaration full of remorse on Friday, explaining why fans could not catch him during the annual event held this year on Saturday and Sunday at the Florida State Fairgroups Expo in Tampa.

“Hello, other drawbacks. I am very, really sorry to tell you that I was diagnosed with viral …” he started in a video published on the Sharkcon Instagram on Friday from a hospital bed. Outside the camera, his wife, Svetlana Erokhin, usefully provided Dreyfuss with the word he was looking for: “bronchitis”.

“My doctors told me that I can’t fly, and I should fly for five hours to get [to SharkCon]. I’m terribly sorry because I had planned to be there and I was looking forward to being there. But I can’t do it. I don’t want someone else to be sick and I don’t want to become sick myself. I feel terrible not to introduce myself, and I feel worse to expose you to this, apparently, a very viral disease, “he explained.

In legend, the organizers of the congresses noted that prepaid autographs and photo sessions with Dreyfuss would be reimbursed within 10 working days.

Dreyfuss has continued, promising “there will be other times, and I will do my business to introduce myself. And I want to wish you good luck and happiness, and I want you to feel very sorry for me, and very sorry for yourself. I am a lot of pain and it must come first, my health. I feel very good to have time and health enough.”

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It was a great year in Sharkcon 2025, an event sponsored by the National Geographic which brings together marine biologists and other experts, diving professionals, shark lovers, sellers and creatives whose work affects everything related to Sharkcon “dedicated to raising awareness of the conservation of sharks and oceans”.

This being the 50th anniversary of the Historical Shark Horror film by Steven Spielberg, a large part of the Convention was devoted to the celebration Jaws“Milestone – For better or for worse – in the representation of marine mammals. In addition to Dreyfuss, one of the main stars of JawsThe Convention welcomed Jeffrey Voorhees, Jonathan Searle, Steven Searle and Carla Hogendyk (all Jaws Alums), Jaws 2 The actors John Dukakis and G. Thomas Dunlop, and finally John Putch, Jackie Kuntarich Cook and Liz Smith, who all appeared in JAWS 3-D.

Based on the 1974 novel of the same name of Peter Benchley, Jaws Follows Dreyfuss’s marine biologist, Matt Hooper, Roy Scheider’s police officer Martin Brody, and Robert Shaw’s shark hunter for a quest to kill a large white shark, terrorizing a fictitious seaside resort in New England.

Jaws transformed the careers of its director and all his stars, a pioneer of the concept of a “summer blockbuster” and changing the way the films of all kinds were marketed and released. Dreyfuss would win an Oscars two years later for his performance at Herbert Ross’ The goodbye girlbut Jaws There remains one of his most durable films, even if he has inspired the debraying of the theater in the past according to his participation in such nostalgia events.