‘Jaws’ Artist Reveals Why the Original Movie Poster Was Never Used

This year, Jaws is celebrating its 50th anniversary and saw a monumental cast reunion at the recent Hollywood Show held in Burbank, California. Among the many talents behind the huge Steven Spielberg blockbuster film in attendance was Robert Tanenbaum, the artist who has spent 60+ years creating unforgettable movie posters, TV artwork, and album covers.

You might not know his name, but you will know his work for projects and artists such as A Christmas Story, Super Fly, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Battlestar Galactica, Frank Sinatra, and the Carpenters’ Christmas album, to name just a few. ReMIND magazine spoke with artist Tanenbaum about his original poster artwork for Jaws and how the paperback book pushed his original designs back out to sea!

Credit: MIke Pingel

How did the Jaws poster come about?

Universal Studios asked me to do five comp sketches on how I would advertise the movie for a poster. I did them, and this is the only time in my entire career they apologized they couldn’t use what I did, because the paperback cover was so popular, the book itself, that they wanted to tie the book cover to the movie. So, they decided that’s what they were going to use for the poster. (Roger Kastel did the original paperback book cover artwork)

Were any of your designs used?

Yes, this was used as the first ad stating the movie was being made. (Robert points at the full color Jaws poster)

Credit: Mike Pingel

Wow. And they didn’t use any of the other ones?

No.

What is your favorite artwork you’ve done?

I have no answer to that, really. I did a lot of advertising. I figured that roughly I’ve done over 5,000 paintings. Plus, I can’t tell you how many drawings.

What was the hardest thing about creating your book?

When I was going to have a book made, I sent Dennis Prince (co-author) 35-millimeter slides in a box – about 200 photographs. I didn’t put the name of any movie on the back of the slides. Because there were a lot of them that I didn’t remember the names of. Dennis had to look them all up.

Do you see movies before you do your artwork?

I worked on 200 movie posters. I only saw two movies before I did the posters.

For Farrah Fawcett‘s film Somebody Killed Her Husband – how did you create the poster artwork?

Columbia Pictures /Courtesy: Everett Collection

Well, they told me that Farrah and Jeff Bridges were starring in the film. That he [her husband] was found dead, and they were scared. So, I looked through the still books, I found a good shot of her head, a good shot of Jeff. I hired two models, and I paid some guy $200 bucks to hold this girl and put his hand on her butt, and then I used the same guy lying down [as the dead body]. The poster was fine when the LA Times was going to run the ad for the movie. I was out of town, and a good friend of mine repainted the hand around her waist. When I got the painting back, I was not really happy. So, I repainted the hand where it belonged.

Check out more on Robert Tanenbaum and his book The Movie Poster Art of Robert Tanenbaum on his official website.

About the Hollywood Show

The Hollywood Show is a premier pop culture nostalgia autograph show that takes place three times a year in Burbank, California, and offers celebrity meet & greets, signed autographs, rare movie memorabilia & fan events. If you are interested in attending to meet the stars and explore the vendor floor, head to the Hollywood Show website for show dates, tickets, hotel information, and the most up-to-date guest list. Be sure to follow their socials on Facebook or Instagram for any guest updates or other fun information.

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June 2025

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