[somewhat relevant hijack]
By the way, does anyone know where the name Gilligan came from? Was it his first or last name?
(sorry if it’s a stupid question–I rarely saw the show, 'cause I grew up in house full of books, with limited TV watching.
Russell Johnson is still alive.
So 3 left.
Gilligan’s Island on IMDB
Last Name. Full name was Willie Gilligan
Complete credited cast:
Bob Denver … Willie Gilligan (1964-1967)
Alan Hale Jr. … Jonas Grumby (The Skipper) (1964-1967)
Jim Backus … Thurston Howell III (1964-1967)
Natalie Schafer … Mrs. Lovey Howell (1964-1967)
Tina Louise … Ginger Grant (1964-1967)
Russell Johnson … Roy Hinkley (The Professor) (1964-1967)
Dawn Wells … Mary Ann Summers (1964-1967)
Pretty sure Russell Johnson is still alive.
And as Bob stepped before the Great White Throne & the Glowing Faceless Giant
declared “Bob, My son, receive My Eternal Blessings for the laughter you have brought to millions through your great work-”
“WORK!?!?”
That’s too bad. Now it’s too late to have him on a celebrity Survivor. He never would have gotten voted off the island.
Actually he was 29 the first year of GI. Which I can’t wrap my head around.
I’m glad to know I was wrong.
I’m sure Mr. Johnson is also glad.
I’m with you on that one, kunilou.
Growing up I had a cat with a white face but a black “goatee” – his name was Maynard, of course.
Writing this, I just realized we are now going to find out the old farts on SDMB.
Not really. In the original script treatments they did use Willie as a first name, but before they started filming they dropped that and he was only referred to as Gilligan, with no indication of first or last name.
It is still controvesial and refuses to die, but I don’t think you can call Willie or Willy his first name since it never aired.
Bye, bye little buddy.
Bob Denver insisted that Gilligan was the first name (Source: Snopes).
Work!
I don’t know Rufus, but Maynard G. Krebs (the “G” stands for Walter) was one of the greatest characters ever put onto television. And it was all Bob Denver’s doing, as the few episodes where he was replaced by Michael J. Pollard proves. I’ve never understood the Gilligan worship; it was a nothing role by comparison.
But for Maynard, and in memory of Dobie and Zelda and the rest, a fond forewell.
Yeah, I snorted at that when I read it in the NYT. Sometimes a TV show is just a TV show. In fact, almost all of the time.
Gilligan was more like the every-schmoe who wanted to do the right thing, but was just not equipped to do so.
It is my theory that the name of Maynard G. Krebs kept the goatee at abeyance for decades. Anyone who wore one didn’t face being written off as “trying to look cool or rebelious” which is how they would have wanted to be written off. They were facing being compared to Maynard G. Krebs, a goofy kid from a TV show they never saw played by the guy who, they were told, later became better known as Gilligan. My conjecture is that the fading memory of Maynard G. Krebs made it possible to view a goatee as ‘hip’ again.
I was truly sorry to hear this news.
On the other hand, if one more person says “I thought he was already dead - oh, no, wait, that was John Denver”, I’m going to pop them one.
I thought Bob Denver died in a plane crash yonks ago!
Gilligan’s Island was a source of inspiration to kids of my generation. Heck, with some vines, a few cocoanut hulls, and some bamboo, they’d whip together a bicycle-powered dynamo, and Gilligan would invariably be sitting there, pedalling like a madman. A couple of my friends have the habit of working to assemble something and when the moment of turning it on or starting it arrives will say, “OK-hit it, Professor!” Thanks, Gilligan, for some good clean entertaining TV.
I wanted the bamboo pedal car.
Still do.
On the other hand, in Venice West, the providentially named author John Maynard suggests that the MGK character was supposed to be merely a would-be hipster or poseur, rather than the real thing. As evidence he cites the weakness of the goatee and the absence of moustache, suggesting that he was barely a man at all. Dobie was before my time, but from the one or two episodes I’ve seen MGK only affected the mannerisms of Beat, and made whatever statements he thought would substantiate his status as a hipster.