Peter Benchley was born on May 8, 1940 in New York City. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. His first book, a travel memoir called Time and a Ticket related his worldwide travel experiences the year after he graduated from Harvard University. After serving in the Marine Corps Reserve he accepted a position as a reporter for The Washington Post. In 1967 he was speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1971 he conceived the idea of a novel about a man-eating shark that terrorized a community. This led him to write the novel Jaws about a giant great white shark. The book became a worldwide sensation and was made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Benchley contributed to the screenplay. The film had an even greater impact on the public. To this day many people are afraid of going into the ocean. Unfortunately, Jaws gave sharks a villianous image which Benchely later tried to correct by becoming an environmental activist.
Subsequently, Peter Benchley wrote the novels The Deep, Beast, White Shark, The Island, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez, Shark Life: True Stories About Sharks & the Sea, Shark Trouble, Rummies, Q Clearance, Shark!: True Stories and Lessons from the Deep, The Ruins and several compliation volumes.