Entertainment industry sources are reporting that Dawn Wells, who played the down-to-earth Mary Ann Summers on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” has died at age 82. Well’s publicist announced that the actress died Tuesday in Los Angeles, of causes related to COVID-19, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Reno, Wells graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she studied theater. Wells also earned the title of Miss Nevada in 1959, and went on to represent her home state in the Miss America pageant.
Wells also appeared in several vintage TV series, including “Hawaiian Eye,” “Laramie,” “Wagon Train,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “Cheyenne,” “Surfside 6,” “Maverick” and “Burke’s Law.”
But it was as Mary Ann Summers, the wholesome young character on “Gilligan’s Island,” that Wells found lasting fame. “Gilligan’s Island,” which initially ran from 1964 to 1967 on CBS, was a comedy about seven castaways whose three-hour boat tour aboard the S.S. Minnow went awry, stranding four men and three women on “an uncharted desert isle.”
In its first run, “Gilligan’s Island” was hardly a critics’ favorite, and the show ran only three seasons. But, thanks to syndicated reruns, nostalgia, and a theme song that, once heard, will stick with you forever, the sitcom became a favorite with generations of fans.
The original cast featured Bob Denver as Gilligan, the klutzy first mate of the S.S. Minnow; Alan Hale Jr. as Captain Jonas Grumby, aka “The Skipper”; Jim Backus as the affluent Thurston Howell III; Natalie Schafer as Thurston’s wife, “Lovey” Wentworth-Howell; Tina Louise as Ginger Grant, a movie star; Russell Johnson as Roy Hinkley, a professor; and Wells as Mary Ann Summers, a farm girl from the Midwest.
With Wells’ passing, Tina Louise is the only surviving member of the original cast.
“Gilligan’s Island” had enough enduring popularity to spawn reunion specials and spinoffs, including “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island,” “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” and “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island.”
-- Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist