Skipper’s little buddy
Awww! Gilligan!
Who didn't love Gilligan?
Bob Denver, whose television roles as Gilligan, the wacky first mate in "Gilligan's Island," and Maynard G. Krebs, the beatnik with a bongo in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," were first hits, then cult classics, died on Friday in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 70.
...
Denver's signature role was Gilligan, but when he took the role in 1964 he was already widely known to TV audiences for another iconic character, Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in the ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,'' which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963.
Krebs, whose only desire was to play the bongos and hang out at coffee houses, would shriek every time the word ''work'' was mentioned in his presence.
Gilligan on the other hand was industrious but inept. And his character was as lovable as he was inept. Viewers embraced the skinny kid in the Buster Brown haircut and white sailor hat. So did the skipper, who was played by Alan Hale Jr. and who always referred to his first mate affectionately as ''little buddy.''
It was an affection that carried over into real life, the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz, and several of Denver's surviving castmates said Tuesday.
''I found him to be a dear, sweet generous, loving man,'' said Russell Johnson, who played the professor on ''Gilligan's Island.''
Hickman said the two remained lifelong friends although they were as different in real life as their characters had been in ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.''
''I just loved him. He was wonderful. One of my dear, dear friends. I feel like a part of me died,'' Hickman said.
California state Sen. Sheila James Kuehl, who played Dobie's love-struck pursuer Zelda, remembered Denver as a mentor, both in acting and life.
''What he taught me about acting was when you work to make the other person look good, you end up looking good yourself,'' she said. ''What he taught me about life was that you could love your work, but it was really more important to love your friends and family.''
Rest in peace, little buddy ...
Posted by LissaKay on 09/07/05 at 01:07 AM in
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