Richard Dreyfuss hospitalized with 'very viral illness,' cancels SharkCon appearance

If you were planned on catching Richard Dreyfuss at this year's SharkCon, start preparing for next year.

The legendary actor andJaws star issued a remorseful statement on Friday, explaining why fans wouldn't be able to catch him at the annual event held this year on Saturday and Sunday at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo in Tampa.

"Hello, fellow cons. I am very, very sorry to tell you that Ive been diagnosed with viral..." he began in a video posted to the SharkCon Instagram on Friday from a hospital bed. Off camera, his wife, Svetlana Erokhin, helpfully supplied Dreyfuss with the word he was looking for: "bronchitis."

"I've been told by my doctors I cannot fly, and I would have to fly five hours to get [to SharkCon]. 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. I feel terrible about not showing up, and I feel worse about exposing you to this, apparently, very viral illness," he explained.

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In the caption, convention organizers noted that pre-paid autographs and photo-ops with Dreyfuss would be refunded within 10 business days.

Dreyfuss continued, promising "there will be other times, and I will make it my business to show up. And I want to wish you all good luck and happiness, and I want you all to feel very sorry for me, and very sorry for yourselves. I'm in a lot of pain and that has to come first, my health. I feel very good about having the time and enough health."

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It was a big year at SharkCon 2025, a National Geographic-sponsored event which gathers marine biologists and other experts, scuba professionals, shark enthusiasts, vendors, and creatives whose work touches on all things shark for a weekend "dedicated to raising awareness about shark and ocean conservation," per the SharkCon website.

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This being the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's landmark shark horror film, much of the convention was devoted to celebrating Jaws' milestone — for better or for worse — in the representation of the notorious marine mammals. In addition to Dreyfuss, one of the principal stars of Jaws, the convention welcomed Jeffrey Voorhees,Jonathan Searle, Steven Searle, and Carla Hogendyk (all Jaws alums),Jaws 2actors John Dukakis and G. Thomas Dunlop, and finally John Putch, Jackie Kuntarich Cook, and Liz Smith, all of whom appeared in Jaws 3-D.

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Richard Dreyfuss at TCM Classic Film Festival in 2023

Based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Peter Benchley, Jaws follows Dreyfuss's marine biologist Matt Hooper,Roy Scheider's policeman Martin Brody, and Robert Shaw's shark hunter Quint on a quest to slay a man-hungry great white shark terrorizing a fictional New England resort town.

Jaws transformed the careers of its director and all its stars, pioneering the concept of a "summer blockbuster" and changing the way films of all kinds were marketed and released. Dreyfuss would win an Academy Award two years later for his performance in Herbert Ross' The Goodbye Girl, but Jaws remains one of his most enduringly popular films, even if he's inspired theater walkouts in the past based on his participation in such nostalgia events.

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