:eek: :eek: :eek:
Not only did he enlist – he was commissioned as an officer and promoted twice, ending up as a captain. He was disqualified from combat roles because of nearsightedness.
None of which gave him any right to question Johnson’s patriotism, of course; Johnson left the war as a first lieutenant and a Purple Heart from wounds received when his B-25 was shot down over the Philippines.
And you know this how?
Reagan seems to have been in a politcal transition at that time. It was others who made claims such as “Reagan served his country in uniform” when it was just a costume for a film. I don’t know that Reagan made those claims himself. But in contrast I would consider Russel Johnson a war hero, and Cold War hero on top of that.
What impresses me in retrospect is that he portrayed the Professor without any physical stereotypes. The rest of the cast relied on costumes to characterize their roles.
He served in the Army in France in the first war.
Alright. I admit it. I was married to Dawn Wells back in the 1960s.
Or, wait… maybe not. Perhaps I just imagined it.
Too bad for that freak coincidence that the name of the would be real life killer was Hinckley.
I know. But it’s close enough to be amusing.
Oh, come on. If you can’t tell Ginger’s going to lie in bed, expecting to do nothing but “be served,” and that Mary Ann will be as energetic as a farm animal, then you deserve what you sleep with.
Just to make it clear, you can’t be “married” for five or six minutes at a stretch.
Okay then.
Seems there was tension behind the scenes because Dawn Wells’ fan mail vastly outnumbered Tina Louise’s.
You can in Thailand!
Just found out Tina Louise turns 80 next month! Geez, I’m getting old. 
Liked the Professor by the way.
Didn’t Tina Louise do some TV commericials with the subtitles “Hollywood Actress” flashing across the bottom of the screen?
Mary Ann all the way.
The last time I saw her was in some early episodes of Dallas, playing JR’s secretary.
Also for what he saw as the Reagan Administration’s apathy for the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Johnson’s only son, David, was diagnosed with HIV in the '80s and became a major activist, which got Johnson involved as well. (David Johnson died from AIDS in '94.)
The only other thing I can recall ever seeing Tina Louise in besides Gilligan’s Island was one episode of Love, American Style in which she played a very, very minor role. Almost a walk-on.
In Bob Denver’s book, he mentioned the noise Tina Louise made during her trysts in the trailer next to his. She semi-denied it, of course. But there has been a lot of talk over the years. Doesn’t prove that Ginger would be the same, but it’s something to think about.
If a pot smoking nature gal is more your type, then Dawn Wells is for you.
As to Tina Louise’s other work, the list is quite long if mostly so-so. If you’re a Gilligan’s Island fan, you have to see For Those Who Think Young with both Tina Louise and Bob Denver. (And Ellen Burstyn for some odd reason.) Another notable work of hers is Mean Dog Blues, but hard to find. Not released on DVD I think.
Russell Johnson was a solid journeyman actor who really paid his dues. Unfortunately, like everybody else on that remarkably silly show he was typecast as “The Professor” for the remainder of his life and he couldn’t do anything else.
I remember that he played a racist police officer in a PBS kids program in the late 1970s. He also played a scientist in THE FBI show on ABC (not a stretch) from the late 1960.
It’s a shame that he was so smart on the Gilligan’s Island that he could never invent a RAFT and get them off of there.
As mentioned in another thread, he played the villain in an episode of Ironside, in which he gave himself away by putting peanuts in his bottle of Coca-Cola.
They did build a raft in one episode when they thought the island was sinking. It fell apart when they were testing it.
In one of the very first episodes, Gilligan and the Skipper actually went out to sea on one, but it too came apart.
In the first TV movie, didn’t they get off the island in a bamboo raft of sorts when a tsunami hit?