Jaws Author Peter Benchley dies today

BY A CORRESPONDENT

14 February 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Peter Benchley, the author of the best-selling "Jaws" died at the age of 65 at his home in Princeton, New Jersey today. Benchley had been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis (progressive and fatal scarring of the lungs), a condition he had been diagnosed with last autumn. His health had been continually deteriorating since then.

Benchley was best known for the terrifying story of Jaws (1974) which was later made into a film by the same name which became the first to gross $100 million at the US box office. After Jaws, Benchley wrote other water-based suspense fiction like The Deep and The Island, which were also made into films.

Jaws has sold over 20 million copies and is the story of how a great white shark terrorizes a beach resort.

Benchley was also a reporter for The Washington Post and Newsweek in addition to having been a speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1967 to January 1969. He is survived by his wife and three sons.