Secrets About Bob Denver You Never Knew: Inside the Life of the ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Actor

Bob Helped Save a Life

During a December 1993 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bob was asked to recount the most unusual story he ever heard from a fan.

“One woman said, ‘Thank you for saving my daughter’s life.’ Her daughter was in a coma from a car accident. She was, like, 9 and her favorite show was Gilligan’s Island. It would come on at 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Every day she would turn it on and say to the little girl, ‘This is your favorite show. You should really wake up and watch it,’” he recalled. “She was in a coma for a long time. She said one time, ‘Here is your favorite episode,’ and the little girl opened her eyes, sat up and said, ‘OK, mom.’ She came out of the coma just to watch the show. I said, ‘You are certainly welcome.’”

He Loved Physical Comedy

Bob had quite the rapport with Skipper Alan Hale on Gilligan’s Island.

“It was fun. Alan Hale was the best person I could have picked in a million years to be my partner in doing physical comedy,” he said. “I couldn’t hurt him. I could climb on him, bounce on him, roll all over him and he would go, ‘Are you done?’ He would never hurt me. He was just too big and strong. You can’t rehearse a lot of physical things we did, but you can’t do it by the numbers. Whatever happens, you’ve got to trust each other.”

He Met His Wife in the Sweetest Way

Bob was married four times, but it was his marriage to Dreama that stuck. She recounted how they met in her memoir, Gilligan’s Dreams; The Other Side of the Island.

“I was an actress doing regional theater, and I got a call from a friend telling me they were casting a show called Play it Again Sam. I got the part, and thought ‘I’m going to have to kiss Gilligan? Really?’,” she reflected. “Little did I know I would be doing those love scenes for the next 28 years.”

Inside His Dark Past

In her book, Dreama revealed that she and Bob overcame hurdles in their marriage, including his excessive drinking.

“I didn’t think of him as an alcoholic, but he drank way too much, and that was a battle. Maybe it was alcoholism. Bob was a shy person and for him to have public adulation was odd,” she said. “I left so many times and he would come and get me. I was so crazy about him and the problem seemed insurmountable in the beginning. But something inside me told me that if I stuck it out he would see that our relationship was more important than a vodka bottle.”

Eventually, he realized that his family and saving his marriage took precedence above all else.

“When you first get into a relationship, you are testing the boundaries of what you can get by with and you start learning about each other. But I guess after our last big fight he saw that he had to give up drinking if he wanted this to work,” she said. “My feeling was if [drinking] was an escape, there was nothing to escape from anymore.”

“I love you, and I don’t love you because you are Gilligan. I love you because you are Bob Denver, and if you dug ditches I would still love you,” Dreama said. “Once he understood that, life became much happier. Bob was searching for his purpose, and when we had Colin, that greater purpose became very apparent to him.”

He Was a Family Man

Bob was a dad to three kids from previous relationships, as well as son Colin, whom he welcomed with Dreama in 1984. Colin was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.

“What most people don’t know about Bob is that he spent the last 20 years of his life with me providing full-time care to our son,” Dreama shared. “He loved his son and he loved me. We did it together.”

Bob’s Romantic Gesture

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis actor once took out a full ad in a newspaper to express his love for his wife. “He was very romantic, very attentive and very sexy,” Dreama told Closer in September 2024.

The Impact of Gilligan

Bob quickly realized that his funny and lovable character had a huge impact on TV watchers everywhere.

“In 1968, Bob, at his own expense, went to Vietnam to see our soldiers and bring them a little taste of home,” Dreama said. “There was a young soldier who was so blown away to be sitting next to Gilligan! Bob was there for six weeks, not with the USO, but on his own. He was very proud of that.”

He Was Eternally Grateful

After having two back to back successes with The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and Gilligan’s Island, Bob was incredibly grateful when the latter went into syndication.

“The cast never dreamed it would go on and on,” Dreama said. “Bob was very humbled by that.”