Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Gilligan's Island: Bob Denver, Dawn Wells, and Alan Hale

Gilligan's Island aired from September 1964 until September 1967 on CBS.

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Cast Obituaries

Here is Jim Backus's Obituary from The New Yorjk Times

Jim Backus, 76, Character Actor Best Known as Mr. Magoo, Dies

By GLENN COLLINS
Published: July 4, 1989

Jim Backus, the beetle-browed actor whose booming voice gave life to the nearsighted cartoon character of ''Mr. Magoo'' and the self-indulgent, ascot-wearing millionaire of ''Gilligan's Island,'' died of pneumonia yesterday in St. John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 76 years old.

Mr. Backus, who had Parkinson's disease for many years, had entered the hospital more than two weeks ago.

Mr. Backus was an actor and writer in the theater, radio and television and in more than 80 movies. His most prestigious film role was that of James Dean's ineffectual father in ''Rebel Without a Cause,'' but it was as Mr. Magoo that he became best known to audiences. His vocal portrayal of the pink-nosed, W. C. Fieldsian bumbler in the screen cartoon series began in the late 1940's, continued for more than 50 episodes, and won two Academy Awards.

In 1958, in his freewheeling reminiscence ''Rocks on the Roof,'' Mr. Backus said he had loosely patterned the delivery and philosophy of Mr. Magoo on his late father, an amiable Cleveland engineer who confused names, dates and places with lovable determination. Difference of Perspective

''Magoo's appeal lies in our hositility toward an older generation,'' Mr. Backus said in a 1958 interview. ''But he's not only nearsighted physically; his mind is selective of what it sees, too. That is where the humor, the satire lies, in the difference between what he thinks he sees and reality as we see it.''

Born James Gilmore Backus and raised in Cleveland, Mr. Backus attended Kentucky Military Institute outside Louisville, where his best friend was a fellow student, Victor Mature. Mr. Backus later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, from which he was graduated in 1933. After two years of appearances in summer stock and several productions in New York, Mr. Backus said ''I decided to try radio as a source of livelihood because I like to eat regularly.''

He was a free-lance performer on hundreds of radio programs, including Columbia Workshop, Matinee at Meadowbrook and the Kate Smith Hour.

Ultimately he became a hit playing a character called Hubert Updyke III on the Alan Young and other shows. Hubert, a hilarious snob who insisted that his ancestors landed at ''Cadillac Rock,'' said things like ''Careful, or I'll have your mouth washed out with domestic champagne.''

His Broadway appearances included roles in ''Too Many Heroes'' (1937) and ''Paint Your Wagon'' (1951). Marriage in Book Form

As a writer, Mr. Backus often collaborated with his wife, Henny, the former Henriette Kaye. The two wrote a lighthearted depiction of their life together in a 1962 book, ''What Are You Doing After the Orgy?''

As an actor, Mr. Backus played many charactes who were buffoons: Babbitt-like fellows full of bombast. Among his more memorable screen portayals were Commander Hutch in ''Francis in the Navy'' (1955) and the glib press agent in ''Man of a Thousand Faces'' (1957).

On television, Mr. Backus appeared in the ''Lux Video Theater,'' was a panelist on ''What's My Line?'' and played Joan Davis's long-suffering husband, a judge of the Court of Domestic Relations, on 117 episodes of ''I Married Joan'' (1952-1954).

''It was a program that was careful not to antagonize anyone,'' he said of the show later. ''The strategy worked well. The only things we were powerless against were the ravages of time.''

Mr. Backus won popularity with younger generations for his portrayal of the fabulously wealthy Thurston Howell III on television's ''Gilligan's Island,'' which originally ran from 1964 to 1967 and which has been in syndication ever since. ''The critics assassinated it,'' Mr. Backus once said, ''but the kids flipped for it. I've been watching the reruns, and confess I'm hooked on it myself.''

Mr. Backus is survived by his wife.

Here is Alan Hale Jr.'s Obituary from The New York Times

Alan Hale Jr., Who Was Skipper On 'Gilligan's Island,' Dies at 71

By PETER B. FLINT
Published: January 4, 1990

Alan Hale Jr., an actor who gained fame as the jolly Skipper in the television series ''Gilligan's Island,'' died of cancer of the thymus on Tuesday at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 71 years old and lived in Hollywood.

The chubby, jocular actor played a variety of supporting roles in scores of movies, but achieved greater status on television. He performed in a 1952-53 adventure series called ''Biff Baker U.S.A.'' and in such comedy series as ''Casey Jones'' (1957) and ''The Good Guys'' (1968-70).

He became a household name with ''Gilligan's Island,'' a sitcom about a group of zany castaways that was broadcast in prime time from 1964 to 1967. The show became one of the biggest rerun hits with youths in the 1960's and 70's when it went into afternoon repeats on local stations.

'He Was So Strong'

Bob Denver, who played the role of Gilligan, said yesterday that Mr. Hale ''was a great guy and a great physical comic.'' ''He was so strong that I could run across the stage, and he could catch me like a feather,'' he said. ''That's what made our comedy so great.''

A cartoon version of the show, called ''The New Adventures of Gilligan,'' won more young fans on weekends from 1974 to 1977. A 1978 two-part reunion special called ''Rescue From Gilligan's Island'' revived the show's commercial magic. There were two follow-up specials, in 1979 and 1981.

Mr. Hale's image as the Skipper persisted in the 1980's. After a day of golf, he often headed to Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel, a West Hollywood restaurant, where, wearing his skipper's cap, he greeted customers.

Films and TV

In early television, he appeared in many segments of major comedy and adventure series, and last year he was a guest on several prime-time shows. His films included ''Wild Boys of the Road'' (1933), ''To the Shores of Tripoli'' (1942), ''Four Days' Leave'' (1950), ''The West Point Story'' (1950) and ''The True Story of Jesse James'' (1957).

The actor was a virtual look alike of his noted father, who performed in hundreds of movies, often as the jovial sidekick of such leading men as Errol Flynn. The senior Hale died in 1950 and his wife, who acted under the name Gretchen Hartman, died in 1979.

Mr. Hale never strayed far from his native Los Angeles, except in World War II, when he served in the Coast Guard.

He is survived by his wife, Naomi, three sons, a daughter, a sister and three grandchildren.

Here is Natalie Shafer's Obituary from The New York Times

Natalie Schafer, 90, Actress Who Played In 'Gilligan's Island'

AP
Published: April 13, 1991

Natalie Schafer, an actress best known as the stranded millionaire's wife, Lovey, on the long-running television series "Gilligan's Island," died on Wednesday at her home. She was 90 years old.

She died of cancer, a family spokesman, Frank Lieberman, said.

On "Gilligan's Island" Miss Schafer played the wife of Thurston Howell 3d, portrayed by the late Jim Backus. They were among the marooned charter boat passengers.

The comedy show originally ran on CBS from 1964 to 1967 and remains enormously popular in reruns. There were also three television movies that reunited the original cast: "Rescue From Gilligan's Island" in 1978, "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" in 1979 and "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" in 1981.

Miss Schafer was born in Red Bank, N.J. She appeared in a number of Broadway productions from the 1920's though the 1950's, including Moss Hart's "Lady in the Dark" (1941), Peter Ustinov's "Romanoff and Juliet" (1957) and Dore Schary's "Highest Tree" (1959).

Her film credits included "Molly and Me," with Gracie Fields; "Wonder Man," with Danny Kaye, and "Dishonored Lady," with Hedy Lamarr.

Miss Schafer also appeared on television in such shows as "I Love Lucy," "Topper," "Route 66," "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Beverly Hillbillies."

Miss Schafer's husband, the actor Louis Calhern, died in 1956.

There are no immediate survivors.

Here's Bob Denver's Obituary

Bob Denver, 70; beloved by many as bumbling ''Gilligan"
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff |

September 7, 2005

Bob Denver, best known for his turn as Gilligan on the 1960s sitcom ''Gilligan's Island," died Friday of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer. He was 70.

''Gilligan's Island" aired from 1964 to 1967 on CBS. The fluffy sitcom was unpopular with critics, but it touched a nerve with viewers. It offered TV escapism in an era when viewers may have been overwhelmed by the chaos of world events.

Surprisingly, the series has stayed afloat in the collective imagination though the decades. Not only has it continued to air in reruns, but it has spawned three reunion movies and a TBS 2004 reality show called ''The Real Gilligan's Island." Arguably, the series also inspired CBS's island-reality series ''Survivor."

In a way, Mr. Denver's Gilligan embodied everything brainless and fickle about TV comedy at the time. The slapstick sidekick to Alan Hale Jr.'s Skipper, he was a classic buffoon who always seemed to trip up the castaways' escape plans. He had progenitors in bumbling sitcom characters such as Lucy Ricardo and Deputy Barney Fife, but Mr. Denver distinguished Gilligan with boyish innocence. In his banter with the Skipper, which sounded like a vaudeville comedy duo, he was known affectionately as ''little buddy."

''It was like Burns and Allen, and any twosome really," the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz said about the Skipper and Gilligan. ''They fed off each other with physical stuff and vocal.

''He was a great actor," Schwartz said of Mr. Denver. ''People think it's easy to fall down and get hit in the head with a coconut. And, every time, he'd find a different way to do that."

Mr. Denver himself once attributed the enduring popularity of ''Gilligan's Island" to its ''silliness" and physical comedy. ''People thank me for giving them a break from life," he said.

Mr. Denver was also famous for creating another iconic TV character, Maynard G. Krebs on ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which ran from 1959 to 1963. A cartoon version of a lazy hipster -- he would screech out the word ''Work!" whenever that frightening prospect reared its head -- Mr. Denver's Krebs resurfaces periodically in pop culture, even while the series has mostly been forgotten.

When goatees and coffeehouses returned to fashion in the early 1990s, for example, cultural mavens were quick to point out that the beatnik Krebs was there first.

He was the original slacker.

After the run of ''Dobie Gillis" and ''Gilligan's Island," Mr. Denver attempted to return to prime time in a few comedy vehicles, including ''The Good Guys" and ''Dusty's Trail." But none caught on, and Mr. Denver spent his later career years enjoying the fruits of his early fame. He often attended ''Gilligan's Island" fan conventions wearing Gilligan's trademark costume, a red shirt and a white sailor's hat. And he even resurrected Gilligan for other TV shows, including a 1992 episode of ''Baywatch" called ''Now Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale" after the ''Gilligan" theme song.

Mr. Denver was born Jan. 9, 1935, in New Rochelle, N.Y. He leaves his third wife, Dreama; two sons, Patrick and Colin; two daughters, Megan and Emily; and a granddaughter. The couple lived in Princeton, W.Va., where they co-hosted a rock-oldies radio show.

On Mr. Denver's website, his family posted a statement saying, ''There are no words to describe how much his wisdom and gentleness will be missed."

Material from the Los Angeles Times was used in this obituary.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

For a great review of Gilligan's Island go to www.televisionheaven.co.uk/gilligan.htm