What Happened to Alan Hale Jr. Before, During and After Playing the ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Skipper?

Inside His Early Life

In Closer Weekly’s exclusive look at the cast of Gilligan’s Island (which, of course, includes Bob Denver, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells and Jim Backus), producer Lloyd Schwartz comments, “He was always Alan Hale Jr. In fact, if you look at some photos, he and his father look 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 was born Alan Hale MacKahan on March 8, 1921, in Los Angeles. His father, as noted above, was an acclaimed Hollywood character actor who appeared in over 235 films; while his mother was actress Gretchen Hartman. When Alan was younger he didn’t express much in the way of interest in following that vocation for himself — which, of course, didn’t last long. “I didn’t always want to be an actor,” he mused to The Times of San Mateo, California, in 1952. “My first ambition was to be a fireman; by the time I was 8, I was acting.”

His Acting Journey

En route to acting, he also apparently had some interest in the sciences. An early reference to him came from a November 11, 1934, edition of The Los Angeles Times, which noted, “Most fathers of scientifically-minded sons live in constant dread of the innumerable questions thrown at them daily by the inquiring youngsters, but that is not true of Alan Hale, screen actor, whose hobby is science. Hale actually enjoys telling his boy, Alan Hale, Jr., about the natural phenomena of earth and sky. To aid him in making astronomical phenomena clear to his son, the actor recently constructed a Tellurian, which, among other uses, indicates the exact time of the sun’s rise and set, the length of the seasons, why we have seasons, and so on.” The Skipper and the sciences? We figured that would be the Professor’s gig.

Broadway Debut

In 1931, at the age of 10, Alan made his Broadway debut in the short-lived show Caught Wet. Over the years he would return to the stage for Smart Miracle (1934 to 1935), Ceiling Zero (1935), Red Harvest (1937), The Scene of the Crime (1940) and one final time in Hook n’ Ladder (1952). He had uncredited roles in films like I Wanted Wings, Dive Bomber and All-American Co-Ed (all 1941), To the Shores of Tripoli, Eagle Squadron and Rubber Racketeers (all 1942) and No Time for Love and Watch on the Rhine (both 1943).

Second Generation

During the early 1940s, the media emphasized the fact that he was one of the second generation of actors following in their fathers’ footsteps. For instance, in 1942 the Democrat and Chronicle reported, “Continuing its policy of encouraging the second generation, the Hal Roach Studio has signed Alan Hale, Jr. for a feature role in Yanks Ahoy. Hale, 22, and a strapping counterpart of his father, will play the role of Naval officer in the cast.”

Years in the Service

In 1943, because of World War II, Alan was sworn into the Coast Guard at the San Francisco recruiting office, the idea being he would receive the usual basic training at Alameda. Around the same time, he married Bettina Doerr, the two of them taking a brief honeymoon before establishing a home base in San Francisco, where Alan would ultimately be stationed.

Life After the War

Following the war, Alan started scoring better roles and found that his abilities as an actor had improved as well. In 1946, the Valley Times of North Hollywood chronicled what happened, noting that the “young Hale” got his first genuine break in what was considered to be an important supporting role in It Happened on Fifth Avenue. “It follows a series of minor parts, each more important than the one before,” they reported. “Had young Hale been the sort of son willing to bask in the glory of a famous father, his ‘break’ could have well come much sooner. He refused his father’s offer of a good agent, important to those seeking success in a film career. He even turned down help in the form of dramatic instruction. The only thing he did was retain his name, and that was his birthright.”

Finding His Footing

The refusals of assistance, they emphasized, were all full of self-determination and good-natured, not reflecting a lack of appreciation for his father’s offers. “It wasn’t until war came along that the youngster got his first chance to act — and do it on his own,” the paper continued. “It was in army training films. He looked good in them and even better in some short subjects, also made by the army for morale purposes. But Uncle Sam needed young and healthy men and Hale joined up with the Coast Guard for three years.”

Small Roles

Alan’s father had been watching his son’s progress — from some radio work to the theater and small roles in films — but never interfered. He did, however, says the Valley Times, “make one visit to the set of It Happened on Fifth Avenue, and when he left there was an added bulge to an already full-sized chest.”

Looking Back

In looking back at his progress as an actor, in 1975 Alan gave an interview with the Independent Press Telegram of Long Beach, California, warmly reflecting, “My grandfather had come West to stay for two weeks and stayed for 14 years. He tipped me onto a few things. He told me, ‘You’ve got two eyes and two ears, so use them.’ So as a result, I cut my schooling short to go to work. I needed the practical experience, because in those days there weren’t as many dramatic classes. The B-pictures were our training ground. They were the backbone of our business. The day of B-pictures … there was nothing like it.”

Film Career

He worked steadily in movies between the 1940s and 1960s, appearing in 37 additional films, ranging from 1947’s The Spirit of West Point to costarring with Clint Eastwood in 1968’s Hang ‘Em High. While it was fairly steady, not a lot of it was high paying and he found he had to supplement his income in some creative ways. “Besides his work before the camera,” noted the San Francisco Examiner in 1951, “he heads a sale force in Hollywood which represents a portable picnic table manufacturer; he is a landlord, he is an orange grower, he is a service station proprietor, he is the owner of an ice cream parlor and he has invested in a used car lot.”

A Salesman

He also was a vacuum cleaner salesman. For his part, Alan stated, “I was becoming a great golfer, but the water bills were getting bigger, so I became a house-to-house salesman. That was the way to really learn acting. You’re meeting people every moment and you must know how to understand them and to sell them. It’s more than entertaining, it’s eatin’ money for you. I sold these vacuum cleaners for nearly three-and-a-half years and don’t regret a minute of it.”

His Father’s Death

Interestingly, Alan and his father were supposed to costar in the feature film Sons of the Musketeers, that idea abandoned when the elder Hale died on January 22, 1950. Suggested Alan, “Perhaps it’s just as well. I’m sure I would have realized how immature an actor I really was alongside the old man.”

The Sidekick

With the 1950s, he also began appearing on television. Between 1950 and 1952, he was cast in nine episodes of The Gene Autrey Show, playing the star’s sidekick, Tiny. From 1952 to 1954, he starred in Biff Baker, U.S.A., which saw playing a Cold War spy on various adventures. It should be pointed out that the critics hated it, but the audience apparently felt the opposite, turning it into something of a ratings hit. “I can’t understand it,” he admitted to the Sacramento Bee in 1954. “I thought I was a flop. I went to San Francisco the other day and the reception floored me. You’d have thought I was Marilyn Monroe.”

TV Appearances

Appearances on shows like Navy Log, The Millionaire and Cheyenne followed before, in 1957 (until 1958) he starred in the title role of Casey Jones, a Western series set around the pioneering days of the western railroads. After that, many more guest appearances followed, including Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Here’s Lucy, Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show, Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip and My Favorite Martian.

Journey to ‘Gilligan’s Island’

Gilligan’s Island — and its tale of a three-hour tour gone horribly awry — was next. The show, which ran from 1964 to 1967, was silly and completely dismissed by critics, but it touched a chord with the audience. It also turned Alan and his costars into iconic figures, all of them struggling to get work after the show was over, which wasn’t easy given the impression they’d made. Alan, surprisingly, didn’t talk a lot about the series, but he never denigrated it. His attitude was always wonderful. Says Lloyd Schwartz, “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.”

Feeding the Ego

That was pretty obvious in a 1964 interview he gave to the Star-Gazette of Elmira, New York. “You’re not going to get much of an interview out of me,” he said. “I’m not in the least controversial. I love people and, if I have any enemies, they haven’t told me about it yet.” It was pointed out to him that the happier people seemed, the unhappier they actually were. He disagreed. “Sure,” he replied, “there are a lot of actors who scream and cry, but they’re as phony as a nine-dollar bill. Believe me, while you may think they’re unhappy, they’re actually enjoying their emotional outbursts. If you fellows would stop printing their moans, they’d stop moaning. I haven’t met an actor yet who doesn’t love his work, even when he appears not to. Complaining is one way of drawing attention to himself and there isn’t an actor living who doesn’t dote on attention. An actor’s ego must constantly be fed and soliciting sympathy is one way of feeding that ego.”

He Also Starred in Films

After Gilligan’s Island, Alan appeared in 11 big-screen films, from 1970’s Tiger by the Tail to 1987’s Back to the Beach. His TV show guest-starring gigs were Ironside, The Doris Day Show, O’Hara, U.S. Treasury; McMillan & Wife, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Magnum, P.I, ALF, Growing Pains and The Law & Harry McGraw.

The Skipper

The Skipper was never very far away from him. From 1974 to 1975, he voiced the character on The New Adventures of Gilligan animated series and again from 1982 to 1983 on Gilligan’s Planet. In the mid-1970s, he also decided to open up Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel, an L.A. based restaurant where he would wear his Skipper cap and greet the customers.

Worth the Wait

And then there were a trio of TV movies that brought the original cast (minus Tina Louise) back together: Rescue From Gilligan’s Island (1978), The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island (1989) and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (1981). “We didn’t see each other for 12 years, but fortunately we were able to pick up where we left off,” he told the Democrat and Chronicle in 1978. “It dovetailed and came together. If The Fugitive finally found the one-armed man, it only makes sense that we get rescued after waiting all this time.”

A Good Time

“We shot on location in Pasadena and Marina del Rey instead of Honolulu,” he continued. “When we filmed the rescue with the three huts being towed into the marina, I think a lot of people couldn’t believe their eyes. Then we did some scenes over at Paramount using the tanks. That’s the whole fun of this thing. You go home and your kid asks you what you did today. I know we aren’t going to the Cannes Film Festival, but it was such fun — the license we took, the pure nonsense.  We’re all sentimental slobs and the show became such a personal thing. Everyone at the studio came around to visit our set, because we had such a good time.”

Personal Life and Death

Personally speaking, his marriage to Bettina Doerr, which began in 1943, came to an end through divorce 20 years later. In 1964, he married former singer Naomi Ingram, with whom he was with until his death. He and Bettina had four children: Alan Brian, Chris, Lana and Dorian. Alan died on January 2, 1990, of thymus cancer. He was 68.

Legacy

Alan Hale, Jr. was often described as being an upbeat, optimistic person, which certainly came through in a comment he made toward the end of his life: “I went around the world in 1974 and when we landed in Beirut, a young soldier came to the ramp. He took one look at me and said, ‘Skipper, do not come ashore.’ I’m always astounded by the instant recognition a long way from home — Japan, Germany, Spain. I was among a hundred people who took a lovely ride up the Rhine River. Before it was over, I was holding a press conference in the fantail of the boat. I guess I’ll never be alone.”