posted 09-06-2005 02:57 PM         

Denver, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year, died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina, according to agent Mike Eisenstadt.

"Entertainment Tonight" first reported Denver's death.

Denver's wife, Dreama, and children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin were with him when he died.

"He was my everything and I will love him forever," Dreama Denver said in a statement.

Denver's signature role was Gilligan. But he already was known to TV audiences for another iconic character, that of Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired from 1959 to 1963.

"Gilligan's Island" lasted on CBS from 1964 to 1967, and it was revived in later seasons with three high-rated TV movies. It was a Robinson Crusoe story about seven disparate travelers who are marooned on a deserted Pacific Island after their small boat was wrecked in a storm.

The cast included Alan Hale Jr., as Skipper Jonas Grumby; Denver, as his klutzy assistant Gilligan; Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer, as rich snobs Thurston and Lovey Howell; Tina Louise, as movie star Ginger Grant; Russell Johnson, as egghead science professor Roy Hinkley Jr.; and Dawn Wells, as sweet-natured farm girl Mary Ann Summers.

TV critics hooted at "Gilligan's Island," but audiences adored it. Writer-creator Sherwood Schwartz insisted that the show had social meaning along with the laughs: "I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications."

posted 09-06-2005 10:20 PM         

You brought several years of laughs and entertainment to all of us.

Why not both?

posted 09-07-2005 08:11 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by tangled up in BLUE:

AC said he always had his eye on the Professor

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Wrong,,,yak breath. It was the professor's wife. She was HOT!!!

posted 09-07-2005 10:15 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by ALLEY CAT:
Wrong,,,yak breath. It was the professor's wife. She was HOT!!!

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wrong again Yak breath....the Professor didn't have a wife.....that was Mr. Howell ond Lovee....the Professor was gay....he was always lookin' at the Skipper

posted 09-07-2005 10:24 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by Snoman:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chromer:
[B]The question that must be answered for every man through the desires of life...Mary Ann?...or Ginger??

Why not both?

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posted 09-07-2005 12:33 PM         

Raquel Welch auditioned for the role of Mary Anne.

Jerry Van Dyke turned down the role of Gilligan.

The first season had the cast using cups that were made from real coconuts. However, they found that the cups were porous and soaked through like they were sweating. Thus in the later seasons, the coconut cups were plastic replicas.

The characters' full names:

The Skipper: Jonas Grumby

The Professor: Roy Hinkley

Mr. Howell: Thurston Howell III

Mrs. Howell: Eunice Howell

Ginger: Ginger Grant

Mary Ann: Mary Ann Summers

Gilligan's first name, the subject of some debate ever since the series first aired.

'Williams, John' (then known as Johnny) wrote the theme song for the unaired 1964 pilot.

The ship's name, S. S. Minnow, was not named for the fish but rather for Newton Minow, head of the FCC in 1961. Minow was the one who called television "America's vast wasteland". Sherwood Schwartz did not care for Minow so he named the soon-to-be shipwrecked ship after him.

The original pilot was filmed in November on 1963 but never aired until October of 1992. In the original pilot, the characters of the Professor and Ginger were player by a different actor and actress. There was no character of Mary Ann. In the pilot, there was a character called Bunny. Bunny was the buxom blonde and Ginger was a practical brunette. In the pilot, Ginger and Bunny were both secretaries. The music for the original pilot's theme song was written by (a young) John Williams. This music had a Latin sound and the lyrics were sung with a Spanish accent. In the pilot, it was a six-hour trip, not a three-hour tour.

Originally slated to return for the 1967-68 television season but canceled at the last minute by CBS head William Paley, to make room for the long-running "Gunsmoke" (1955).

The three man folk singing group, The Wellingtons, sang the theme song for the first season, but were replaced by a similar sounding group, The Eligibles, for the following seasons.

The Wellingtons (plus one) also portrayed 'The Mosquitoes' in a classic episode of the series.

The opening credits for the first season were shot shortly after the assassination of U.S. president, John F. Kennedy. A flag at half mast can be seen in the background.

The character of the Professor was supposedly a graduate from SMU, TCU and UCLA, Thurston Howell III went to Harvard. Howell would call an inferior a "Yale Man".

In the credits, 'Johnson, Russell' and Dawn Wells were relegated to being simply "The Rest". That changed in the second season when Bob Denver demanded that they be given an equal share in the credits thus changing the lyrics to "The Professor and Mary Ann." Sherwood Schwartz, who composed both themes, has said it didn't' occur to him the Professor and Mary Ann would turn into prominent characters.

According to series creator Sherwood Schwartz, Gilligan's full name was Willy Gilligan. Bob Denver says he never heard the name Willy Gilligan until long after the show was off the air.

The lagoon set was located at the CBS lot in Studio City, CA. If sequences there were filmed too early or too late in the day, microphones would record rush hour traffic noise from a nearby freeway.

Phil Silvers was cast as a producer in a episode partly because his production company was actually producing the show.

Creator Sherwood Schwartz said that he dreamed up the idea of the show because he wanted the castaways to represent a microcosm of society and he wanted to show how they worked together to help each other when in trouble.

As the show progressed, producers planned to introduce a new character - a pet dinosaur - but decided against it because of the cost of special effects.

The Skipper and Gilligan both were friends from the navy. The Skipper saved Gilligan after he fell overboard from the ship they were serving on.

The premise required that the characters use various devices that had to be constructed from only the various materials found on a tropical island. Thus the props had to be specially made and the prop department enjoyed the challenge which was a change of pace from simply bringing in the standard props from storage. The bamboo foot pedal-powered car used in one episode was a particular favorite with the cast queuing up to try it out.

posted 09-07-2005 08:24 PM         

I'll just assume it was research.

posted 09-07-2005 10:21 PM         

The coolest cat in the history of primetime, Maynard G. Krebs was Bob's first breakthrough TV role as the beatnik/best friend of Dobie Gillis on the TV series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Maynard still remains the most famous beatnik in history. Just ask
TV Guide, who recently voted Maynard one of the 50
best TV characters ever!
Bob was a school teacher and working parttime at the post office when he got to audition for the pilot for the series in 1958. After the pilot sold, the series started shooting in February 1959.

The above was 'research'... but the following is not

Maynard............. cool dude
Gilligan............ what a guy !

posted 09-08-2005 07:20 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by TFischer:
Here's some more trivia about the show that I thought was interesting:

Jayne Mansfield turned down the role of "Ginger"....

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Dang Tami...you're a literary genius!
Thanks for sharing