Here’s What Happened to the Cast of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Before, During and After Being Shipwrecked

Bob Denver (Gilligan)

Born Robert Osbourne Denver on January 9, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York, he was raised in Bronwood, Texas and graduated from Los Angeles’ Loyola University with a degree in political science. Although Bob started working as a teacher at Corpus Christie, he auditioned for the role of  beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in 1958, which led to a co-starring role in the 1959 to 1963 comedy series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Bob was cast as best friend to the title character played by Dwayne Hickman, who spends most of his time pursuing the ladies.

In 1963 he played his only dramatic television role in an episode of Dr. Kildare (which also featured guest stars Barbara Eden and Ken Berry, who would respectively go on to star in I Dream of Jeannie and Mayberry RFD). After he was hired to play Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island, the network, CBS, made a concentrated effort to have the TV audience get used to him by featuring Bob on episodes of The Farmer’s Daughter, The Danny Thomas Show and The Andy Griffith Show. It was, of course, Gilligan’s Island that was his greatest claim to fame and the show/role that he would be remembered for.

Bob the Stranger

“I was a big fan of Dobie Gillis,” explains Lloyd Schwartz, “but Dad hadn’t really watched the show. When Bob Denver’s name came up, I knew him. I said to my father, ‘You’ve got to call this guy right away.’ It was interesting, because I was not where Bob was at age-wise, but we became pretty friendly. Still, he was very much a loner who didn’t really feel comfortable in big public things. He would always live in places like the top of a mountain in Hawaii, and he ended up in West Virginia. But when he came into town to do a Gilligan event or something, he would have dinner at my house. What was funny is I’d also become friendly with Dwayne Hickman and I mentioned that Bob would come to my house when he was in town. Dwayne said, ‘Would you invite me and my wife over when he comes, because I really don’t know Bob.’ And that was a shock to me. I mean, Dobie didn’t really know Maynard? That was just so strange to me.”

Jerry Van Dyke as Gilligan?

As Lloyd details, the original intention was to cast Dick Van Dyke’s brother, Jerry, in the role of Gilligan. “Dad knew Jerry Van Dyke,” he says, “and Jerry had no agent, so dad fixed him up with his own agent. Gilligan’s Island comes along and Dad wanted him for it, but Jerry’s agent told him not to take it, because he could do a much better show, which was My Mother the Car [about a guy who’s mother is reincarnated as his car, and talks to him through the radio]. I believe Jerry Van Dyke fired that agent.”

Not Really Gilligan

There was, Lloyd points out, quite a contrast between Gilligan and the man who played him. “He was actually a brilliant actor,” he says, “and not at all a guy who would get hit in the head with a coconut and fall down. He did that stuff really well, but that’s not who he really was and I wish I was the person to have given him the chance to show what he could do. He was the best reactor as an actor where you could always cut to him and he was going to give you more. We did a series called Dusty’s Trail. Forrest Tucker was the lead and he was out of town for a while, so I got a chance to play opposite Bob for line readings. I’m a terrible actor and he made me feel like I was a good actor, because he was such a good reactor. He’s someone who went through some problems, and a lot of divorces, and I didn’t really know him that way, but he was a good guy.”

‘The Good Guys’ (1968 to 1970)

Prior to and during Gilligan’s Island, Bob appeared in the featured films A Private’s Affair (1959), Take Her, She’s Mine (1963), For Those Who Think Young (1964), Who’s Minding the Mint (1967) and The Sweet Ride and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (both 1968). But it was television that remained his primary acting outlet at the time. And although he would make guest appearances on a number of shows over the years, Bob’s next series was this one, which saw him paying Rufus Butterworth with Herb Edelman as Bert Gramus. It was a comedy set in a neighborhood diner and lasted 42 episodes.

‘Dusty’s Trail’ (1973 to 1974)

This time Bob was paired with Forrest Tucker (from F-Troop) as a pair of coachmen in 1870s California, who, along with five passengers, become separated from their wagon train. Those passengers read like a who’s-who of Gilligan’s Island and one could accuse this show of ripping that one off, except that it was created by Sherwood Schwartz and Elroy Schwartz.

‘Far Out Space Nuts’ (1975)

An inadvertent launch of a spaceship sends a pair of NASA maintenance workers into deep space where they get involved in various misadventures. This Saturday morning live action series featured Bob as Junior and Chuck McCann as Barney.

Broadway Bound

Interestingly, in 1970 Bob actually replaced Woody Allen in the original Broadway production of Play It Again, Sam, about a film junkie who gets advice from the late Humphrey Bogart. “He also did a lot of dinner theater,” says Lloyd, “and I think that’s where he met Dreama, who would become his wife. Like I said, his lifestyle was so different where he didn’t have a home for a lot of the time. He would just go from play to play and have a locker in Las Vegas or something where he’d pick up clothes. A lot of times he would wear the clothes they gave him from the different shows in the different places he was in.”

One Minute Gilligan, the Next … Not So Much

“He did a thing with me,” he laughs, “where we were walking and he was very recognizable — unless he chose not to be recognized. It was all about how he carried himself. He’d say, ‘Watch this,’ and people would run up to him to tell him that he looked like Gilligan. Then he says, ‘Now watch this,’ and he put on a different countenance and people didn’t recognize him. So he could have fun with it, but like any star when they feel they could do other things, they do feel typecast and all of that. As I said, he had a lot more to give, but the only thing I think he felt resentment over was the fact he didn’t get a lot of money. But as a producer, I could look at him and say, ‘All that theater work he’s getting is coming from the fact that he played Gilligan, and we didn’t get any of that money.’”

Marriages

Bob was married four times, first to Maggie Ryan from 1960 to 1966, having two children in the process; then to Jean Webber from 1967 to 1970, Carole Abrahams from 1972 to 1975 (they had one child), and Dreama Perry from 1979 until his death on September 2, 2005 at the age of 75 (from pneumonia on top of cancer treatment he’d been receiving and having undergone heart bypass surgery). Interestingly, he and Dreama ran an oldies format radio station for a time.

Alan Hale, Jr. (The Skipper)

Sometimes when you’re born into a showbiz family, it probably sets you down the path to your own stardom. At other times, that family background creates a shadow that is difficult to get out of. For Alan Hale, Jr., the situation was very much the latter. He was born Alan Hale MacKahan on March 8, 1921 in Los Angeles. His father was character actor Alan Hale, Sr., his mother stage and film actress Gretchen Hartman. “Alan did a few failed series and some other things,” Lloyd says, “but he was always Alan Hale, Jr. In fact, if you look at some photos, they look very, very similar, but he didn’t have the notoriety that Alan Hale, Sr. did until he got Gilligan’s Island. He adored the character of the Skipper. And not just because he was a very loving guy; it gave him an identity and he never took that hat off once he became the Skipper. He had a restaurant in later years and he would greet customers wearing the hat, and visit hospitals as the Skipper. Like I said, he suddenly had an identity.”

Early Roles

Early on, things got off to a bumpy start for Alan. He debuted on Broadway in 1931’s Caught Wet, but its run lasted less then a month. Then, in 1933, he scored his first screen role in the film Wild Boys of the Road, although his part was ultimately cut (he still gets credit in the film). He returned to the stage for productions of Small Miracle (1934 to 1935), Ceiling Zero (1935), Red Harvest (1937), The Scene of the Crime (1940) and, later, Hook n’ Ladder (1952). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, he appeared (sometimes uncredited) in about 40 films. Television beckoned in the 1950s with a recurring role on The Gene Autry Show and a starring role in Biff Baker, U.S.A., which ran from 1952 to 1953, in which he played the title character, a Cold War spy; and 1957 to 1958’s Casey Jones, a Western focused on the early days of the railroad. From there, he really made his name guest starring on many of the popular episodic shows of the time.

The Skipper, Too

When it came to Gilligan’s Island, Lloyd explains that the part of the Skipper was probably the most difficult to cast. “Dad was upset because it was getting down to the wire,” he explains. “He was at a restaurant with my mother and at another table was Alan Hale, Jr., who my dad didn’t know, but he said, ‘That’s the guy!’ He didn’t approach him or anything, but the next day he told the casting director to pursue him. It turns out after that dinner, Alan had flown out to Utah, but they got him to come back and do the test from whatever Western movie he was doing. I think he actually had to hitchhike and had a truck take him to Vegas, and from there he flew in and he tested opposite Bob and that’s how he got the part.”

Why Alan Hale, Jr.

Enthuses Lloyd, “Alan was so warm. He’s obviously a very large man and when you went up to him, he kind of embraced you and was always a slap-on-the-back kind of guy and very upbeat about everything. He was also a total professional. I remember there was a story that Dad told where Alan had fallen and people came running over. He got up and said he was okay and then went back to filming that episode. They finished and he said to Dad, ‘Do you need anything else?’ It turned out he’d broken his arm, but he stayed until filming was done and then he could get it fixed.”

The Reason We Love The Skipper

One of the appealing things that Alan brought to the role of the Skipper is that no matter how angry he may have gotten at Gilligan, hit him with his hat or chased him around, there was never a doubt that Gilligan was always his Little Buddy. “That was the magic of the casting,” enthuses Lloyd, “because everybody else who came in had failed the casting, because you had a big guy hitting the little guy and you just wouldn’t like him. But with Alan, you still knew Skipper liked Gilligan. What was interesting is that the ‘Little Buddy’ line actually came from Alan. I saw him guest starring on The Andy Griffith Show, where he called Don Knotts little buddy, so I guess he brought that over to Gilligan.”

Life Off the Island

Following the run of Gilligan’s Island, Alan starred in a dozen films, beginning with Clint Eastwood’s 1968 Western Hang ‘Em High and concluding with 1987’s Back to the Beach. He also made many guest appearances on different TV shows, ranging from a 1967 episode of Batman to 1988’s The Law & Harry McGraw. In the mid-1970s he decided to open Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel, a Los Angeles restaurant where he wore his Skipper cap and greeted the customers. By 1982 he was forced out of the business, and later opened Alan Hale’s Quality and Leisure Travel  Office.

From 1943 to 1963, he was married to Bettina Doerr Hale, with whom he had five kids (Alan, Brian, Chris, Lana and Dorian). After their divorce, in 1964 he married Nora Ingram, a singer, with whom he would be with until his death. He died on January 2, 1990 of thymus cancer.

Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III)

Unlike his fellow Gilligan’s Island cast members, actor Jim Backus was actually very well known for two characters. Millionaire Thurston Howell III on that show is undoubtedly the one he’s most famous for, but for a couple of generations he was also the voice of cartoon character Mr. Magoo. Jim was born James Gilmore Backus on February 25, 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio. When he decided to embark on a career in acting, he enjoyed great success on radio, television and in film. Radio listeners could hear the voice of Jim on shows like The Jack Benny Program, The Judy Canova Show and The Alan Young Show (Alan, of course, played Wilbur Post on the talking horse TV series, Mister Ed). From 1957 to 1958 he had a self-titled show. On top of that, there were many guest appearances on a wide variety of shows.

Invited to Marilyn Monroe’s Dressing Room

Jim’s movie career spanned from 1949 to 1984, during which he starred in many films, beginning with 1949’s One Last Fling and concluding with 1984’s Prince Jack. Other credits include 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause, where he played James Dean’s father; and Marilyn Monroe’s Don’t Bother to Knock (1952). Memorably, during the making of that film Marilyn got a message to him to visit her dressing room. Happily married (and with his wife’s okay), he nonetheless did so, not quite knowing what to expect. As it turns out, when he arrived the screen legend excitedly asked only one thing of him: for him to do the voice of Mr. Magoo, which he was delighted to do.

Mr. Magoo

Making his debut in the 1949 animated theatrical short “Ragtime Bear,” Mr. Magoo as voiced by Jim is an elderly, extremely nearsighted man who refuses to wear glasses and gets involved in all sorts of comic misadventures, somehow managing to survive just fine despite the chaos he causes everywhere he goes. The actor voiced Mr. Magoo in over 50 shorts. On television he was featured on the 1960 to 1961 TV series Mister Magoo, 1964 to 1965’s The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo and 1977’s What’s New, Mr. Magoo, as well as the TV movies Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962), Mr. Magoo in Sherwood Forest (1964), Uncle Sam Magoo (1970).

Jim’s TV Series

Jim co-starred with actress Joan Davis on I Married Joan, which ran from 1952 to 1955. He plays Judge Bradley Stevens, who is married to the scatterbrained Joan, who finds herself involved in many I Love Lucy-like predicaments. The Jim Backus Show aired for a single season between 1960 and 1961, and saw Jim as Mike O’Toole, editor/owner of a small wire service that struggles to stay in business.

The Millionaire

Lloyd found Jim Backus to be a really fun guy. “Dad had worked with him on the radio,” he says, “and then he worked with him on I Married Joan. Dad sent him the script for Gilligan’s Island and said, ‘If you read the script, you’re not going to want the part,’ because at that time it was much thinner and there wasn’t much Mr. Howell there, but Jim trusted him and took the part. I used to go up to him and do my James Dean, because he played the dad in Rebel Without a Cause.”

Outside Interests

Jim managed to stay very busy over the years, appearing in quite a number of TV commercials, writing several books and recording a number of comedy albums, including two as Mr. Magoo. In his private life, he married Henrietta Kaye (aka “Henny”) in 1943 and was with her until he died on July 3, 1989 following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. But for Lloyd, one of the most touching moments involving Jim came during the making of the third and final Gilligan’s Island reunion movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island. “Jim was very ill at the time and he couldn’t do it,” he details. “We recast with a guy who played Thurston Howell’s son, David Ruprecht. Jim called my dad during the filming and said, ‘Can I do a day?’ So we rewrote the script so that Mr. Howell came to the island and had a few lines. He didn’t have the energy to do anymore than that. After that he came up to Dad and said, ‘Was I okay?’ ‘Yeah, you were fine.’ And Jim said, ‘But was I funny?’ ‘Yes, Jim, you were funny. It’s good.’ And they walked off together and everybody on the set was crying, because they knew that this was probably the last time they would see Jim. He died shortly thereafter.”

Natalie Schafer (“Lovey” Wentworth Howell)

Natalie was born November 5, 1900 in New York City. She began her career acting in 17 Broadway plays that were staged between 1927 and 1959, four of which — Lady in the Dark, The Doughgirls, Romanoff and Juliet and Six Characters in Search of an Author — had extended runs. She appeared in many films over the years, usually playing some variation of a sophisticate, which made her casting in Gilligan’s Island a natural. The role of “Lovey” didn’t seem so far removed from what audiences were used to seeing her play.

Secretive Nature

Apparently Natalie played many things about her life close to the vest. For starters, no one knew how old she was for many years. She told others, including her husband Louis Calhern (to whom she was married from 1933 to 1942), that she was born in 1912, even though the truth is that it was 1900. On top of this, there are reports she fought a battle with breast cancer, which is not something she shared with her friends or the fans. She ended up dying from liver cancer on April 10, 1991 at the age of 90.

Interestingly, she actually was a millionaire as a result of shrewd real estate investments. There are rumors that when she died, her estate went to a combination of her dogs, the Lillian Booth Actors Home and to Gilligan’s Island co-star Dawn Wells, who, on an appearance on Vicki!, the talk show hosted by Vicki Lawrence, claimed that she became Natalie’s caretaker in the last few years of her life.

Thoughts on Natalie

“Natalie was very much like Mrs. Howell,” points out Lloyd. “She only did the Gilligan’s Island pilot because she thought it would be a free trip to Hawaii; she didn’t expect it to go to series. Dad was talking to her one day about something he’d heard on the radio and she said that her radio didn’t get the news or something. He had to explain to her that she could change the channel — and she was being serious. She was also so secretive, especially about her age. When her former husband, Louis Calhern, was dying, Natalie was by his side and he says, ‘Natalie, I’m dying. Can you tell me your age?’ And she said, ‘Never.’ She was also a socialite and in the ‘40s and ‘50s she was always playing those kinds of people. I remember the last time I ever saw her was at some party where she was upset that she couldn’t get a new agent. And she was probably 90 at the time! Still fighting the fight. But she was great and fun and amusing to be around.”

Tina Louise (Ginger Grant)

Born Tina Blacker on February 11, 1934 in New York City. One could say that her career actually began when she was only two years old, appearing in an ad for her father’s candy store. At the age of 17, she began studying singing, acting and dancing at Manhattan’s Neighborhood Playhouse. In 1958 she started modeling, appearing in the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog and in several pinup magazines and a pair of Playboy layouts.

Hitting the Broadway Stage

Tina made her acting debut in 1952 in Two’s Company, a musical revue starring Bette Davis, which was followed by appearances on Broadway in John Murray Anderson’s Almanac, The Fifth Season, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? and Li’l Abner.  In 1958 she began appearing in films like God’s Little Acre, followed by Day of the Outlaw (1959), and such Italian movies as L’assedio di Siracusa (1960), The Warrior Empress (1960) and Garibaldi (1961). During that period she also appeared in television anthology shows and guest starred in in episodic television. In 1964 she was back on Broadway in Fade Out — Fade In, when her agent approached her about, and convinced her to do, Gilligan’s Island, which literally changed her life.

The Movie Star!

If there is anyone who seems to have come out of the Gilligan’s Island experience negatively, it would have to be Tina, who felt she had been misled and simply couldn’t wait to be off the show. Conversely, she also did tell Closer exclusively, in part, “I honestly feel like I have so many friends out there who just love what we did and what we shared and the joy we brought. I’m so happy to have been part of something that was so special to American television.”

Another View

As Lloyd explains it, when the opportunity came for Gilligan’s Island reunion TV movies in the late 1970s, everyone — from the producers to the studio and the network — knew that Tina Louise would not be a part of them. “Dad always knew about Tina Louise,” he says. “When we had the deal to do the movies, it was that we deliver six of the seven cast members. Now I don’t know Tina very well. In fact, if she met me or ran into me, she probably wouldn’t even know who I was, because I only met her a few times, but she was going to do the movies. She was in negotiations, but she was back and forth between yes and no. Eventually it was no. The truth is, she was always more bitter about being on Gilligan than any of the cast members. I remember when they did the TV Land Awards and everybody was going to be there, she wanted some money and then she wanted more money if she was going to sit at the same table with everybody else.”

Seeking an Answer

As to why this attitude, Lloyd suggests, “It’s legendary that when she was asked to do the show and agreed to do the show she was in a play. She was just a semi-star at the time and they told her it was about a movie star that was going to be stranded on an island with several other people. That’s how they got her to do it. But after a few episodes, she went in to talk to my dad and said she didn’t understand why all this focus was on these other characters. He said, ‘Doesn’t the title Gilligan’s Island give you a hint?’ So somebody did their job and got Tina Louise. After that came many years of resentment.”

Life After Ginger

When the series went off the air (well, at least in terms of first-run episodes), Tina starred in a wide variety of big screen and TV movies, including Dean Martin’s Matt Helm adventure The Wrecking Crew, The Stepford Wives and SST: Death Flight. Guest starring roles on TV shows were a regular place of employment for her, and she had a recurring role for five episodes of Dallas as the character Julie Grey. Her last TV role was in a 1999 episode of L.A. Heat and her final movie was 2017’s Tapestry.

In her personal life, Tina was married to radio announcer and TV talk show host Les Crane, with whom she had their child, Caprice. Now a New York City resident, Tins is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scientists and remains a member of the Actor’s Studio. She’s also extremely involved with child literacy programs.

Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley, Ph.D)

Russell David Johnson was born November 10, 1924 in Ashley, Pennsylvania. Following high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force as an aviation cadet. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon completion of his training, and, in World War II, flew 44 combat missions in the Pacific Theater. On March 4, 1945 he and two others were shot down while on a mission. Both of his ankles were broken in the crash, the co-pilot killed. Receiving a Purple Heart as a result of this, he was honorably discharged following Japan’s surrender on November 22, 1945. From there, he joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

From War to Hollywood

When Russell left the military, he used the G.I. Bill to pay for his acting studies, which he put to good use in Hollywood. Beginning in 1952 he appeared in a large number of films that were set in a variety of genres. There were Westerns like Rancho Notorious, Seminole, Law and Order and Badman’s Country, as well as sci-fi such as It Came from Outer Space, This Island Earth and Attack of the Crab Monsters. He also made the transition to television, appearing in, among others, The Twilight Zone episodes “Execution” and “Back There,” and The Outer Limits episode “Specimen: Unknown.”

The Professor

Like the others, it was, of course, his role on Gilligan’s Island that secured his place as a part of Classic TV history. “Russell had a very bawdy sense of humor and was nothing like the Professor,” laughs Lloyd. “In fact, when he was cast, he went to Dad and said, ‘All this stuff you’re writing for me, all this scientific jargon, I’m fine saying it, but you have to let me know that what I’m saying is based on fact.’ Dad was a science major and pre-med, so he made sure there was some truth to all of these things the Professor was saying.”

Dealing With Typecasting

Again like his co-stars, Russell had to deal with typecasting due to the impact that Gilligan’s Island ultimately made on the public, locking a certain persona in mind when it came to Hollywood casting directors. As he explained in one interview, “It used to make me upset to be typecast as the professor, but as the years have gone by, I’ve given in. I am the Professor and that’s the way it is. Besides, the show went into syndication and parents are very happy to have their children watch the reruns. No one gets hurt. There are no murders, no car crashes. Just good, plain, silly fun. It brought a lot of joy to people, and that’s not a bad legacy.” In a separate, more Gilligan-deprecating interview, he commented, “The Professor has all sorts of degrees, and that’s why I can make a radio out of a coconut, and not fix a hole in a boat!”

 Russell was married a total of three times. First to Edith Calhoon from 1943 to 1948, then to Kay Cousins from 1949 until her death in 1980, and Constance Dane from 1982 until her death in 2014. His son, David, died from AIDS-related complications on October 27, 1994. Russell himself passed way from kidney failure on January 16, 2014 at the age of 89.

Dawn Wells (Mary Ann Summers)

The proverbial girl-next-door, Dawn Elberta Wells was born October 18, 1938 in Reno, Nevada. In 1959, Dawn was named “Miss Nevada” and went on to represent her state in the 1960 Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It also seemed to mark a change in direction for her future, as upon graduation from high school she attended Columbia, Missouri’s Stephens College, majoring in chemistry, but then switched to the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated in 1960 having achieved a degree in theater arts and design. Moving to Hollywood, she debuted on television in an episode of The Roaring 20s and on the big screen in The New Interns. Many other guest starring roles followed before she was cast on Gilligan’s Island.

Reflecting on Dawn

“Dawn and I are still pretty close,” says Lloyd. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but she received five times the fan mail of anybody else, and I think it’s because she came across as so accessible. We’ve done little plays with her, and what’s funny is we were on a local game show together. I was a non-celebrity and she was a celebrity and we were partnered on it, but we had to pretend that we didn’t know each other, because it was against the rules if we did. We also have a Gilligan’s Island musical that plays around the country, and when we were in Florida, Dawn played Mrs. Howell.”

Life on the Stage

After the show ended, Dawn appeared in a few films and on TV series as a guest star, but really spent her time in the world of theater, reportedly acting in over 100 shows from the 1970s through 2009. In 1993 she wrote Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook, and in 2014 wrote What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life, which was timed for the show’s 50^th anniversary. She continues to do work for various charities as well. Dawn has only been married once, to Larry Rosen from 1962 to 1967.

Why We Still Love ‘Gilligan’s Island’

In an exclusive interview with Closer, Dawn offered up her opinion on why the show has endured the way that it has for both her and the audience: “What’s interesting, is that Dawn Wells is very much a Mary Ann type,” she says. “I’m very positive and I always have a good outlook on everything. I mean, I always want to play the bitch and I always want to play the hooker, but I never get to. Actually, I shouldn’t say never. I’d performed on stage doing Owl and the Pussycat and a lot of pretty dramatic roles that allowed me to satisfy that need, but I’ve always had to play the ingenue and the good girl. Mary Ann was very much who I’ve done a lot of, so to speak, but I embraced it because I thought it was a good, positive show. Today, everything is so different. Moms and dads are both working, kids are on drugs and it’s a very different civilization. My mother knew where I was every single minute. I grew up in Nevada — gambling, divorce, prostitution was everywhere — and my parents were divorced, but, again, my mother knew everything I was doing. Today it’s a different world, and I think that Gilligan’s Island kind of brings the whole family together to say, ‘Right is right and good is good.’ Honestly, I think that’s the reason it’s lasted.”

For much more from Dawn, please click HERE.