Tina Louise played Ginger Grant in Gilligan’s Island from 1964 to 1967. However, she did not expect the series to last beyond its first six months. She admitted to this during an interview with New York Living, where she also revealed that she did not want to play Ginger at first.
While the ’60s series is Tina’s most popular project— of which she is the only surviving member today, she also starred in American Style, The Stepford Wives, CHiPs, and Dallas, alongside Elvis Presley’s ex-wife Priscilla Presley.
Tina Louise on landing ‘Gilligan’s Island’ role
Tina recalled landing the offer to play Ginger because the original actress from the pilot got dropped. She already had her New Star Of The Year Golden Globe award for 1958’s God’s Little Acre at the time and had just joined the Actor’s Studio. She was also busy working with Carol Burnett on a Broadway production but agreed to the gig anyway.
RELATED: Tina Louise’s Relationship With ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Cast Was Fraught With Conflict
Tina was convinced by a friend to accept the role of Ginger, since it would only last six months and she could get back to other commitments. Alas, six months became three years as the show went on until its cancellation after season 3. It reportedly ended because CBS executive William S. Paley did not want Gunsmoke to go off air for it.
Tina got a loyal fanbase from ‘Gilligan’s Island’ viewers
Although Tina never reprised her role in the ‘70s sequel movies Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island, and 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, she received decades of fan love for her one-time act.
She revealed in 2016 that fans would shower her with praise via daily letters at her house, and would walk up to her in public to say the series made their lives better. She recalled meeting someone whose husband watched the show everyday while battling cancer. Tina is glad to have made that much impact via a show she was initially unenthusiastic about.
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