Biography

When Gilligan's Island premiered 36 years ago, it was widely panned as dumb, inconsequential, and amateurishly made. Yet today this show about seven people stranded on an island is one of the most enduring and endearing sitcoms in history. Even Dawn Wells, who played Kansas farm girl Mary Ann, has trouble explaining its staying power.

"It's hard actually to discuss the show on any serious level," she admits, "because it's just fun, silly humor."

But to illustrate the impact that Gilligan (1964-67) has had on our culture, Wells recounts a letter she received from a Desert Storm soldier:

"He said, 'There we were, thrown into this war, all of us about 18 years old, from all over the United States, never having met, never knowing whether we were going to live or die. And the first common denominator was, "What was your favorite Gilligan's Island episode?" And as the sun would go down in Kuwait City, you could hear the American soldiers teaching the foreign soldiers the theme song.' Now I find that pretty significant--even if it is something I cannot explain."

With Gilligan so pervasive in our collective consciousness, is it any wonder Wells is still best known as Mary Ann?

The former Miss Nevada, now 62 and single, even wrote Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook in '93. But Gilligan isn't the only thing in her life. She remains active in the theater, noting "I've done everything from Shakespeare to Noel Coward to Tennessee Williams to Neil Simon."

Wells also created a clothing line, the Wishing Wells Collection, designed with Velcro closures for those who have difficulty dressing. And she runs a summer "film actors boot camp" in Wyoming for aspiring actors.

"I think of Mary Ann as sort of a great calling card," she says. "Then I just get on with the business of being me."

Filmography

Super Sucker (2002) .... Herself/Super Sucker Celebrity Spokesperson
Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three Hour Tour in History (2001) (TV) .... Herself (also archive footage)
... aka Surviving Gilligan's Island (2001) (TV) (USA: short title)
Gilligan's Island: The E! True Hollywood Story (2000) (TV) .... Herself

"Daytrippers" (1998) TV Series .... Herself
"Dawn Wells: Reel Adventures" (1997) TV Series .... Herself
Lover's Knot (1996) .... Mary Ann
TV's All Time Favorites (1995) (TV) .... Hostess
Soulmates (1992) .... Lucille Perkins
... aka Blood Love (1993) (UK: video title)
... aka Evil Lives (2000) (USA: video title)

High School U.S.A. (1983) (TV) .... Miss Lorilee Lee
"Gilligan's Planet" (1982) TV Series (voice) .... Mary Ann/Ginger
Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, The (1981) (TV) .... Mary Ann Summers

Castaways on Gilligan's Island, The (1979) (TV) .... Mary Ann Summers
Rescue from Gilligan's Island (1978) (TV) .... Mary Ann Summers
Return to Boggy Creek (1977) .... Jolene
Town That Dreaded Sundown, The (1976) .... Helen Reed
Winterhawk (1976) .... Clayanna
"High Rollers" (1974) TV Series .... Assistant (1974-80)
... aka "New High Rollers, The" (1978) (USA: new title)

"Gilligan's Island" (1964) TV Series .... Mary Ann Summers
New Interns, The (1964) .... Bobbie