50 Years On: Where Is The Cast Of Gilligan’s Island Today?

Ginger had been hoping to unwind on a nice, relaxing cruise when she found herself stranded on a desert island. Although she wasn’t too happy to be there, she usually did a good job of lifting the other passengers’ spirits when they were feeling down. She had a knack for entertaining people, and she always seemed to have the perfect outfit for the occasion. It was a good thing she’d come so prepared for her cruise!

We’ve barely seen Tina Louise on our screens since the turn of the century, although every appearance she’s done has been incredibly memorable. She very recently starred in the drama film Tapestry alongside Stephen Baldwin and Burt Young, marking her first feature in five years. Most of her acting roles came between the ‘60s and ‘80s where she had recurring credits on shows The Love Boat, CHiPs, Dallas and Love, American Style. Gilligan’s Island is still her biggest part to date.

When you’re stranded on a desert island, you don’t tend to come across many people. However, in one episode from season one, Gilligan encountered a young man referred to as Jungle Boy. He didn’t know who he was or how he got there, but he did provide the castaways with a way to get off the island. Unfortunately, just when it seemed like the passengers would be able to leave, Jungle Boy stole their means of escape.

Although Kurt Russell first came to people’s attention thanks to his guest appearances on TV shows, the actor gave up on the small screen in the ‘70s to become a movie star. He’s had dozens of roles since featuring on Gilligan’s Island, and he continues to land parts to this very day. In the last few years, he’s starred in The Hateful Eight, The Fate of the Furious, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, with several new films now in the works.

If anyone ever needed something done, Mary Ann Summers was the person to turn to. She liked to keep things in order, so she often did most of the chores herself, including the cooking. Summers was pretty skilled at whipping up meals for the castaways, even when she was working with unexpected ingredients. Although people sometimes took advantage of Mary Ann’s sweet nature, she usually received gratitude from the other passengers for helping them out.

The ‘60s were a busy decade for Dawn Wells, with her role on Gilligan’s Island just one of the many credits she had at the time. Although the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s weren’t quite so hectic, she still found a lot of work with appearances on shows like Roseanne and ALF. Unfortunately, the roles have slowed down since then, and Wells has been struggling financially. However, a GoFundMe page set up by fans has raised nearly $200,000 for the star.

Jackson Farrell was a professional criminal looking to lie low when he ended up on the deserted island. He was on the run from police after robbing a string of banks on the West Coast. He initially had the castaways fooled about his identity, convincing them he is a doctor. However, they eventually discovered the truth about who he really was and he held them as prisoners. He eventually gets into it with Gilligan and tries to flee the island, but is captured.

Larry Storch’s appearance on Gilligan’s Island might have been brief, but it’s just one of the hundreds of credits he’s racked up over the years. His impressive range and ability to do accents have seen him land a lot of voicing work in cartoons like The Pink Panther Show and Scooby-Doo. He’s also dedicated a lot of time to performing on stage, especially now he’s retired. His final appearance on screen was in an episode of comedy series Medium Rare back in 2010.

When Erika Tiffany-Smith arrived on the island, it looked like the shipwrecked passengers would finally be able to make their escape. However, the socialite made one crucial mistake when she informed the Navy of where the castaways were – she didn’t make a note of the island’s coordinates. With no idea of where they were, Gilligan and the others were left to fend for themselves once more as Erika looked for somewhere else to set up her new resort.

No one can say that Zsa Zsa Gabor didn’t live a full life. She got married nine times, was once crowned Miss Hungary, and amassed dozens of credits during her acting career. As well as appearing in Gilligan’s Island, she also featured in The Facts of Life, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Batman. Sadly, just weeks away from reaching her 100th birthday, Gabor passed away after going into cardiac arrest. She’d been plagued by ill health during her final years.

In one of the final episodes of the series, Gilligan came upon a woman who he quickly rescued from drowning. She was native to the island, and she revealed to her savior that his act of bravery meant she was now his slave. However, when Ugundi, the girl’s ex, caught wind of this, he fell into a rage. He quickly challenged Gilligan to a fight and threatened to take the man’s life, but luckily the castaway survived the encounter.

Michael Forest has been a busy man ever since he had his brief role in Gilligan’s Island. In 2018, he played himself in the sci-fi comedy movie Unbelievable!!!!!, while a year earlier he provided voice acting for the English dub of Eureka Seven Hi-Evolution 1. He’s used his voice a lot over the years, whether for TV roles or video games. In fact, more people probably know him now from how he talks rather than what he looks like.

Just when you thought life on the island couldn’t get harder, Norbert Wiley arrived in season three and held several of the passengers captive. He offered their freedom in exchange for money – something that Thurston Howell III wasn’t short of – but the castaways managed to get the upper hand on him. They played the man at his own game and soon had him captured. However, rather than get their own back, they attempted to reform his criminal ways.

The legendary Don Rickles was still relatively new to the game when he showed up on Gilligan’s Island. He’d only gotten his breakthrough in the ‘50s and was still several years away from his most iconic roles, including the 1970 war film Kelly’s Heroes. To the younger generation, he was best-known as the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the three Toy Story films, a role that he sadly won’t reprise for the franchise’s fourth film.

If anyone was going to get the castaways off the island, it was The Professor. A high school science teacher with love for botany, he created many inventions while shipwrecked. However, there was always something that stopped them from working out, forcing the passengers to remain stranded for another day. Funnily enough, despite The Professor’s ability to make things out of the most unlikely materials, he was never able to do one simple thing – repair the crashed ship.

Gilligan’s Island was one of the best things that ever happened to Russell Johnson, but it didn’t come without its downfalls. After being in the show for so long, he became typecast and struggled to break free from The Professor. However, he was still able to rack up hundreds of credits throughout his career, including recurring roles on Dynasty, The Jeffersons and Beyond Westworld. Unfortunately, he succumbed to kidney problems at the start of 2014 and passed away.

Probably best known for his role as Tarzan back in the ’50s, Denny Miller played a similarly muscular man by the name of Duke Williams. A Topeka native, Duke ended up on the island after surfing through a tsunami. During his brief time on the show, Duke inspired Gilligan and also stole the hearts of characters such as Gingy and Mary Ann. However, as he surfs back to America, Duke gets hit by a rock and forgets everything about The Castaways.

For the following decades, Denny Miller continued to grace the world of TV with his towering presence, having appearances of varying magnitude on shows such as I Dream of Jeanie, The Brady Bunch, Hawaii Five-O and Battlestar Galactica, to name a few. In his later years, Miller spent his time in Las Vegas, where he lived with his second wife, Nancy. He taught relaxation classes there. Sadly, after being diagnosed with ALS in 2014, he passed away later that year at the age of 80.

There might not be anyone on this list who has a filmography quite as impressive as Vito Scotti’s. The Broadway star already appeared on countless TV shows and in numerous movies before landing the guest role of Dr. Boris Balinkoff. A crazy scientist who lives not too far away from the Castaways, Balinkoff spends most of his time with his parrot and his servant Igor and tries to perform wild experiments on Gilligan and the gang.

Even after his brief time on Gilligan’s Island came to an end, Vito Scotti hardly struggled to find work elsewhere, appearing on shows such as Batman, Gunsmoke, Charlie’s Angels and Mad About You. His final film role came in 1995’s Get Shorty, which also starred the likes of John Travolta and Danny DeVito. After his first wife passed away in the later-70s, Scotti remarried and stayed with Beverly Scotti before dying of lung cancer in 1996. He was 78 years old.

Another seasoned actor who found his way on Gilligan’s Island was Hans Conried, who had a brief role on the show as World War I pilot Wrongway Feldman. He was given this name after flying the wrong way and bombing his own bases. It becomes very clear that Wrongway is an incompetent fool during his time on the island and his sidekick, Buck Lorenzo, is just as incompetent. He might’ve not lasted that long on the show, but Wrongway was a memorable character.

Needless to say, Hans Conried continued to find work after his brief role as Wrongway Feldman. He appeared on a variety of shows such as Lost In Space and Dr. Seuss on the Loose. He even lent his voice to the role of Thorin Oakenshield in an animated version of the J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth epic The Hobbit. Sadly, in January 1982, Conried suffered a heart attack just a few days before his 40th wedding anniversary and passed away.

The wealthiest man in the show, Thurston Howell III spent most of the series failing to realize that money meant nothing on the island. He went his whole life being able to buy his way out of any problems, but there was no-one he could pay to rescue him and his stranded wife. However, although his wealth was useless, the other castaways often treated him like a more valued passenger, never forcing him to do chores like everyone else.

It seems that many of Gilligan’s Island’s stars were excellent voice actors, and Jim Backus was no different. The man was well-suited to voice roles which is how he came to play Mr. Magoo in a variety of animated series and films. It’s what Backus ended up becoming best known for, even after his captivating performance as Thurston Howell III in Gilligan’s Island. Sadly, Thurston was one of the last characters Backus ever played thanks to his untimely passing in 1989.

There is no denying that Richard Kiel was prolific both on the big and small screens. The towering figure was known for playing scary brutes in many of his roles. Prior to his cameo on Gilligan’s Island, Kiel had already appeared in shows such as The Twilight Zone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and I Dream of Jeanie. When 1966 came around, Kiel ended up on the island as the man known as Ghost. He is a Russian spy who tries to scare away the castaways.

Long after his role as Ghost, Richard Kiel continued to scare audiences with his towering presence. Arguably his biggest role came in 1977 when he played the terrifying henchman Jaws in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me. After that, Kiel also starred in movies such as Happy Gilmore and Tangled. Just over a week prior to his 75th birthday, Kiel had broken his leg, before suffering a heart attack. He passed away at Fresno’s St. Agnes Medical Center.

Fans instantly recognized Harold J. Stone when he appeared on Gilligan’s Island. The experienced actor had already featured in huge Hollywood movies such as Spartacus, while also appearing on shows such as Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Make no mistake about it, the castaways were far from alone when they landed on the island. One person who was already there was Harold J. Stone’s character – Alexandre Gregor Dubov. This recluse was an eccentric painter and certainly lit up every scene he was in.

It has been a good part of 40 years since we last saw Harold J. Stone on the big or small screen. His last role in a motion picture came in 1980, working alongside Jerry Lewis in the movie Hardly Working. Stone was nominated for an Emmy Award for his leading role in the CBS drama The Nurses. Despite being married and separated twice, Stone ended up having two sons and one daughter. In 2005, at 92 years of age, the great actor passed away of natural causes.

Having already graced the TV screen for the previous decade on shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables, as well as films such as Some Like it Hot, Nehemiah Persoff took viewers by surprise when he appeared on Gilligan’s Island. His full title in the show was El Presidente Pancho Hernando Gonzales Enrico Rodriguez of Ecuarico – quite the mouthful if we do say so ourselves. He is a Latin-American dictator who establishes a revolution on the island.

Long after his appearance on Gilligan’s Island, Nehemiah Persoff seemed to have cameo roles on virtually every popular TV show for the next few decades. These included the likes of Charlie’s Angels, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O, Battlestar Galactica, and Magnum P.I., to name a few. Persoff hasn’t acted in anything since his final film role in 1999’s 4 Faces. One of the only cast members of Gilligan’s Island who is still alive today – 101-year-old Persoff currently lives in Cambria, California with his wife Thia.

Prior to his brief appearance in Gilligan’s Island, John McGiver had already proven himself as a force to be reckoned with in both TV and film. He had already starred in movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s and The Manchurian Candidate. McGiver also appeared in classic shows such as Bonanza and The Patty Duke Show. On Gilligan’s Island, McGiver played Lord Beasley Waterford, a British nobleman who is looking for a rare butterfly on the island.

For the next decade following his appearance on Gilligan’s Island, John McGiver continued to have roles in standout films and TV shows. These included the likes of Midnight Cowboy, The Wild Wild West, and Bewitched, to name a few. With his wife Ruth, McGiver had a staggering 10 kids. His eighth child Boris McGiver also became an actor, appearing in shows such as House of Cards and The Wire, amongst others. In 1975, at the age of 61, McGiver passed away from a heart attack.

Hollywood producer Harold Hecuba is an obnoxious individual who ends up on the island in season three. While Ginger fails to impress Hecuba, the others capitalize and try to show off their talents to tempt him into rescuing them. After putting on a musical of Hamlet though, Hecuba does the unthinkable. Being the conniving producer he is, Hecuba sneaks off the island overnight. It is then revealed that he stole the castaway’s idea for the Hamlet musical!

Often known as “The King of Chutzpah,” Phil Silvers was a comedy powerhouse and blessed audiences with his humor for over half a century. Famous for his show The Phil Silvers Show, the actor/comedian won two Primetime Emmy Awards in his heyday. In the years following his cameo on Gilligan’s Island, Silvers’ health declined. Despite this, he carried on working and even made appearances on shows such as Horror in the Heights and The Chicken Chronicles. He passed away in 1985.

All it took was one look at Mrs. Lovey Howell to know that she was a high-society woman. In love with clothes and money, she wasn’t the sort of person who’d cope well on an island. However, there was more to the character than just a love for the aristocracy. She was a great comic relief, and she dealt with island life surprisingly well. It helped that she could still do things like throw parties to ease her worries.

Natalie Schafer was always destined to play a high-society character like Lovey Howell. She was cast in those kinds of roles before Gilligan’s Island had even come along, and it’s what Schafer became known for. Following the show’s conclusion, the actress continued to play her character in its various spin-offs, including the animated series Gilligan’s Planet and TV movie Rescue from Gilligan’s Island. Her last role was in the film I’m Dangerous Tonight, released one year before her passing in 1991.

As the man behind the wheel, it was Jonas Grumby’s job to get the ship to its destination. Unfortunately, after that failed miserably, he took it upon himself to try and keep everyone going as they attempted to survive on the island. He wasn’t afraid to be in control of the situation and tell everyone what to do, but he never let the power go to his head. He had too big of a heart for that to happen.

It took a lot of personality to bring Jonas Grumby to life, and Alan Hale Jr. had that by the bucketload. Thankfully, we saw plenty of it over the years with all the credits the actor racked up. Though he only had guest roles outside of the Gilligan franchise, Alan appeared in all sorts, including Growing Pains and Magnum, P.I. He was born to be on screen, which is why it was hard to lose him in 1990.

As the title of the show suggests, Gilligan was the leading character in the series. He wasn’t a take-charge sort of person, despite being the first mate of the stranded ship, and usually swapped his adult responsibilities for something more fun. He was more like a child than some of his other traveling companions, but the passengers still had a lot of love for him. He was always so caring towards them and hated upsetting people.

Bob Denver was well-known to American audiences before Gilligan’s Island thanks to his time on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. It was the actor’s first lead role, but it wasn’t his last. He went on to play the main character in several other shows like The Good Guys and Dusty’s Trail. He became a prominent part of our TV schedules, but his career started to wind down before he retired in 1997. Eight years later, we lost him to pneumonia.