‘Gilligan’s Island’ star Dawn Wells dies, COVID-19 cited
LOS ANGELES >> Daw n Wells, who played the wholesome Mar y A nn among a misfit band of shipwrecked castaways on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” died Wednesday of causes related to COVID-19, her publicist said. She was 82.
Wells died peacefully at a residential facility in Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said. “There is so much more to Dawn Wells” than the “Gilligan’s Island” character that brought her fame, Boll said in a statement.
Besides TV, film and stage acting credits, her other real- life roles included teacher, motivational speaker and conservationist, Boll said.
Tina Louise, 86, who played Ginger the movie star, is the last surviving member of a cast that included Bob Denver as the title character; Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper; Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer as wealthy passengers Thurston and Lovey Howell, and Russell Johnson, known as the Professor.
“Oh, this so sad. Bon voyage, Mary Ann,” Jane Lynch posted on Twitter.
“Two and a Half Men” star Jon Cryer tweeted that it was a “thrill” to meet Wells when she visited the show, adding, “She could not have been more lovely and gracious.”
Wells, a native of Reno, Nevada, represented her state in the 1959 Miss Amer ica pageant and quickly pivoted to an acting career. Her early TV roles were on shows including “77 Sunset Strip,” “Maver ick ” a nd “Bo - nanza.”
Then came “Gilligan’s Island,” a goofy, good-natured comedy that aired from 1964- 67 that became an unlikely but indelible part of popular culture. Wells’ comely but innocent Mary Ann complemented Louise’s worldly Ginger, and both became innocuous ‘60s TV versions of sex symbols.