What happened to Richard Dreyfuss? Jaws star cancels SharkCon 2025 appearance due to medical diagnosis

Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss had to cancel his SharkCon 2025 appearance owing to his recent medical diagnosis. In a clip posted on SharkCon's official Instagram account on Friday, July 11, 2025, the actor expressed his remorse at being unable to attend the event that took place this weekend at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo in Tampa.

The video saw Dreyfuss seemingly lying on a hospital bed as he explained that he had been diagnosed with viral bronchitis. The actor told his fans:

"Hello, fellow cons. I am very, very sorry to tell you that I've been diagnosed with viral... viral... What is it?" with his wife, Svetlana Erokhin, helpfully adding, "bronchitis."

 

 

 

 

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SharkCon is a two-day event celebrating one of the ocean's well-known apex predators, sharks. The event focuses on spreading awareness about the animal, as well as about shark and ocean conservation. Per That's So Tampa, it caters to anybody from a "casual shark enthusiast to a marine scientist." This year, the National Geographic sponsored the event.

"I had planned to be there and had been looking forward to it" - Richard Dreyfuss apologized for not making it to the convention

Talking about his diagnosis, Richard Dreyfuss explained that he would have to fly five hours to get to the SharkCon venue, adding that his doctors informed him he could not "fly." He continued:

"I’m terribly sorry because I had planned to be there and had been looking forward to it. But I’m unable to do so. I don’t want to get anyone else sick, and I don’t want to get sicker myself."

The actor elaborated that he would feel worse if he ended up "exposing" anybody to the "very viral illness."

According to Cleveland Clinic, bronchitis occurs when airways leading to the lungs get inflamed and filled with mucus. This, in turn, causes coughing that can last for a couple of weeks. Generally, a viral infection leads to acute bronchitis, which can go away on its own.

In their post, organizers for the convention noted that anybody who paid in advance for an autograph or a photograph session with Dreyfuss would have their money refunded.

Richard Dreyfuss continued to add that there would be other occasions when he met his fans, adding that he would make it "(his) business" to do so. The actor apologized and added that he was in "a lot of pain" and his health needed to "come first."

Richard Dreyfuss was set to attend SharkCon 2025 alongside his fellow Jaws stars Jeffrey Voorhees, Jonathan and Steven Searle, and Carla Hogendyk. Further, actors from the film's sequels, like John Dukakis, John Putch, and Liz Smith, too, made an appearance at the convention.

The film was based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name. It starred Richard Dreyfuss as a marine biologist alongside Roy Scheider's police chief Martin Brody, who team up to stop a man-eating great white shark that has been attacking beachgoers.

It is worth noting that 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of the aforementioned Steven Spielberg film's release. To commemorate the occassion, AMC Theatres is set to re-release it this August. The movie was also the subject of a National Geographic documentary by Laurent Bouzereau (came out this year).