Why Tina Louise Almost Quit Gilligan’s Island

“Gilligan’s Island” only aired for three seasons on CBS, but it became a rerun sensation when it hit syndication after getting canceled in 1967. Kids in the market for a relentlessly silly sitcom to watch after school while they were neglecting their homework and chores couldn’t do better than this aggressively formulaic show about seven castaways shipwrecked on an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Just about every episode revolved around the characters’ inevitably thwarted attempts to return to civilization, and this familiarity bred nary a hint of contempt.

The key reason the show never got old for its undemanding target audience was the cast. Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale Jr. (Skipper), Jim Backus (Thurston Howe), Natalie Schafer (Lovie Howe), Russell Johnson (Professor Roy Hinkley), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), and Tina Louise (Ginger) formed a perfectly balanced ensemble that understood precisely what was expected of them. You couldn’t imagine anyone else playing these roles.

Amazingly, creator Sherwood Schwartz almost went to series with a very different cast. Indeed, the pilot, which didn’t air until October 14, 1941, featured different actors playing the roles of the Professor, Ginger, and Bunny (who later became Mary Ann). When the network expressed little interest in moving forward with the pilot cast, Schwartz auditioned more actors to fill out the ensemble. His most ambitious choice proved to be Tina Louise, a notable film and theater actor who’d earned a Golden Globe in 1958 for New Star of the Year for her performance in Anthony Mann’s “God’s Little Acre.” Louise wound up being an ideal fit for Ginger, but she wasn’t so sure at first. In fact, she almost turned the part down.

In a recent interview with Forbes, the 91-year-old Louise remembered how she left a Broadway show (“Fade In – Fade Out,” starring Carol Burnett) to play Ginger in “Gilligan’s Island.” But she almost backed out when the script she was given to read portrayed the character differently from what she’d been pitched. According to Louise:

“The CBS casting director Ethel Winant called me at the theater, ‘Do you think you could play this Lucille Ball/Marilyn Monroe-type of character?’ I said yes. I got there and the director wanted it to be a more sarcastic kind of character. And so, then I didn’t even want to work on it anymore. I told him I wanted to quit.”

Louise said the head of CBS called her into his office to get her to reconsider. “I explained to him that I didn’t want to play it and I didn’t think the show would be successful, changing the original idea of the character,” said Louise. “You just can’t go into people’s homes and dress somebody up like a doll and then have her to be not nice.” Fortunately, the CBS executive agreed, and hired a new director who got what the tone of the show should be. You might’ve heard of this guy. “[H]e hired Richard Donner, who was fantastic,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor and then the writers started writing for what I was supposed to be doing and the show became a hit, and I enjoyed the part.”

So credit the man who would give us “The Omen,” “Superman,” and “Lethal Weapon” for keeping Louise from returning to the theater. While she never found a role that was as memorable as Ginger, she continued to act for decades and seems to be happily retired.