'Jaws' actress Lee Fierro dies of coronavirus at 91

April 6 (UPI) -- Lee Fierro, a drama teacher who found fame as a grieving mother in the 1975 shark-themed thriller Jaws, has died of coronavirus at age 91.

Kevin Ryan -- artistic director and board president for Island Theatre Workshop -- told The Martha Vineyard's Times in Massachusetts Sunday that Fierro died at an Ohio nursing home after decades of living and teaching in Martha's Vineyard.

"The one word I would think of when I think of Lee is dedication. I've watched her as a performer, director and businesswoman and then we became friends. She was my teacher and mentor," Ryan said. "She was fiercely dedicated to the mission of teaching. She, no matter what it was, would stay at it and get the job done."

Fierro's family is planning a small funeral service in Ohio, due to the current coronavirus social-distancing practices, but Martha's Vineyard intends to hold a memorial for her when normalcy returns.

Fierro played Mrs. Kinter, the mother of shark victim Alex, in Jaws and its 1987 sequel Jaws: The Revenge, Variety said.

She memorably slapped Roy Scheider's Police Chief Brody, whom she blamed for the boy's death.