Gilligan’s Island star Tina Louise admitted that she never expected her iconic role of Ginger Grant to last as long as it did.
“I thought it was going to just last six months, but it seemed to go on forever,” Tina, 90, confessed with a laugh during a recent appearance on New York Living this month.
When asked about the influence that Gilligan’s Island has had on multiple generations of people, Tina got candid about how she snagged the role in the first place.
“I had just become a member of the Actor’s Studio, and I didn’t really want to do it, but they weren’t happy with the person who did the pilot, so I was just asked to do it,” the God’s Little Acre actress shared during the appearance. “I was in a Broadway show at the time with Carol Burnett, and I was asked to do this.”
“I was encouraged by a friend who told me it would only last six months and then I could go back to what I had been training for,” Tina explained.
In addition to her work in Gilligan’s Island, Tina also acted in Love, American Style, The Stepford Wives, Dallas, CHiPs and more. She previously opened up about the love from Gilligan’s Island fans she has received in the decades since the show’s initial run.
“I get letters every day at my house. I appreciate the fact that they love the series,” Tina told Forbes in March 2016. “I once had somebody come up to me in a restaurant, She said she was sorry to interrupt, but that her husband was dying of cancer and liked to look at the show every single day. That was very, very important. I respect the fact that people like it so much. I understand that for myself – when you need diversion, you need diversion.”
Gilligan’s Island ran for three seasons from 1964 to 1967. Nearly 60 years after the series first debuted, the cast and crew shared secrets from the set. Jayne Mansfield initially turned down the role of Ginger before it was offered to Tina.
“She thought she’d be more of the central character,” Hope Schwartz Juber, daughter of series creator Sherwood Schwartz, told Closer on August 14. “She was disappointed, but she was brilliant in the part.”
The sitcom also starred Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. Hope revealed that several of the show’s other stars also did not expect the show to last for very long.
“The cast never dreamed it would go on and on,” Dreama Denver, Bob’s widow, said. “Bob was very humbled by that.”
Among some of the other revelations made in the interview was the fact that the pilot was initially shot in Hawaii but the set was moved to Los Angeles when the show was picked up.
“It backed up to the 101 [Freeway],” author Joey Green revealed. “They had to be really careful not to pick up the sounds of traffic, which would be odd on a desert island!”
