'JAWS' star Robert Shaw has been immortalised with a stone bench that overlooks a lake in his adopted parish.

The memorial, which bears an inscription to the actor, has a view of the 22,000-acre Lough Mask, which so beguiled Shaw when he first laid eyes on it in the early 1970s.

His widow, Virginia, and three members of his family, Penny, Colin and Tom, were special guests on Saturday when the memorial was unveiled near the village of Tourmakeady in Co Mayo.

In fact, the Lancashire-born actor and writer died close to the beauty spot at the age of 51 in 1978 after suffering a fatal heart attack while driving home from a golf outing with friends.

Sean O'Conghaile, master of ceremonies at Saturday's unveiling, recalled Shaw as a gregarious, friendly man who "always spoke to the people and was at home in anybody's company".

Mr O'Conghaile told how Shaw had moved his family to Tourkameady and immersing himself in the community. His children attended the school.

He thought up schemes to improve the local land, and had plans to harness the power of the fast-running streams that run off the mountains. This dream of local hydro-electricity was realised after his death.

"We are here today to celebrate the life of a great man, a man who had great affection and appreciation for his adopted area," Mr O'Conghaile said.

Shaw's son Colin, told the gathering that the death of actor, who appeared in 'Jaws' and 'The Sting' as well as the Bond film 'From Russia with Love', had cast a long shadow.

But his continuing appearances in the TV schedules made the family feel he had never gone away.

"Off screen he remained a family man. He valued the privacy that he had found in Tourmakeady. He had a deep affection for the landscape and the people of Mayo and would be absolutely delighted that he is being commemorated locally."

Shaw's widow, Virginia, who was living in Tourkameady with him when he died, said it was an emotional time. She had stayed in Tourmakeady for a while, but left when the children moved away.

She said Shaw loved Tourmakeady and declared he had discovered the "most wonderful place on earth".