Dawn Wells, the actress who helmed the iconic role of Mary Ann in Gilligan’s Island and long served as the girl-next-door archetype for film and television, has died. Wells’ publicist confirmed to CNN that the actress died in Los Angeles on Wednesday due to complications from COVID-19. She was 82 years old.
Born in Reno, Nevada, Wells first claimed her spotlight in 1959 when she was crowned Miss Nevada, leading her to represent her state in the Miss America pageant in 1960. Her time as a beauty queen led to the beginning of her television career, earning her a host of guest appearances in 1961, including Maverick and a reoccurring stint on 77 Sunset Strip. After years of brief appearances and walk-on bits, she auditioned against 350 actresses for the role that would ultimately cement her spot in television history: Gilligan’s Island premiered in September of 1964 with Wells taking on the gingham-adorned role of Mary Ann, the demure counterpart to Tina Louise’s sultry and glamorous Ginger.
Wells and Louise’s onscreen dynamic sparked one of the most ubiquitous pop culture debates— “Ginger or Mary Ann?”—and still shines a bright spotlight on the enduring nature of gendered expectations in entertainment. What’s more, Mary Ann stood as a pig-tailed paragon of Americana, the prototype for the kind of wholesomeness that women were expected to chase. The character set such a potent example that it became hard for Wells to escape it herself, often reprising her role in numerous guest spots throughout the decades in shows like Alf and Baywatch. After the show ended in 1967, she signed on to play a sex worker in the rom-com The Owl And The Pussycat, a role that she discussed with Smashing Interviews Magazine in 2019: “Mary Ann was a good girl. She was polite. She was a hard worker. She would be your best friend. She cooked. She cleaned. She did all of those things, and she was a really good role model. But the first thing you want to do is break that character and go do something else.”
That “something else” included a long theater career packed with numerous stage productions and national tours, including Steel Magnolias, The Odd Couple, and The Vagina Monologues. She also co-authored a book with Steven Stinson called What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide To Life, released a cookbook in 1993, and engaged in years of humanitarian work that supported the disabled community.
53 Comments
2020 will keep on bringin the hurt until it’s over, it seems. What a sad loss.And let’s be real: everyone liked Mary Ann more than Ginger.
I maybe liked Ginger more….. regardless its a great loss. Goddamn it covid and 2020, always someone great seems to go in December. I’m sorry it was her.
If you really want to be real after a while on the island Mrs. Howell would get the old blood pumping.
I know Natalie Schafer (who played Mrs. Howell) was a generation older than the other two women on the show, but she was quite the cutie in her prime.
I liked all three. Ginger for confidence and ownership of sexy, Luvvie for her style and love of her hubby and Mary Anne for her optimism and goodness. All the ladies rocked.
The answer was ALWAYS Mary Ann.
I dunno, Gilligan seems like the one who’d be most game for anything.
I’m watching the beginning of Outlander right now (late to the party) and there’s a definite Gilligan quality to Jamie, stud-muffin though he be.
As the internet has taught us all:“Why not both?”
I was more into the Professor
A friend of mine had the best response: Ginger for a night, Mary Ann for a lifetime.
So kill Lovey Howell?
And kill Lovey Howell?
Modern revision:Annie or Britta?
Have you seen “Love on the Spectrum” on Netflix? She was in an episode and was very sweet with one of the participants who is a superfan. He went to see her at a comic con dressed as the Skipper!
Ahh… no. Ginger, please and thank you!
I’m not sure anybody “Liked” Ginger — was attracted to her, sure, but she always seemed a bit off-putting to me.
… and then there was one.
So does Tina Louise get some sort of tontine/buried treasure on the island now?
Beat me to the tontine joke by seconds.
Yes. Wasn’t worth a three hour tour!
They already found the buried treasure in a S1 episode. It only held old cannon balls, which they used in their bowling alley.
Yes, the coconut cream pie recipe.
Ironic that the one who wanted nothing to do with the show after it ended, who claims that the show killed her career stone dead is the last man standing from the cast.
She did have some glowing comments about Dawn Wells yesterday. Very kind memories of Wells that seemed earnest and heartfelt.
…enduring nature of gendered expectations in entertainment…Mary Ann stood as a pig-tailed paragon of Americana, the prototype for the kind of wholesomeness that women were expected to chase…Or it could also be that as Wells herself said:“…the “values and principles” of Mary Ann mirrored her own and are timeless: “I know this because the core of Mary Ann is really me. I mean, I built her from scratch … if you play a character long enough on stage or screen, I think your true self shows through.”And as Wells and her biographer wrote: “We love Mary Ann because she is the future, the hope of our world. The youngest of the castaways, Mary Ann has her entire life in front of her,” he wrote. “Watching her unfailing good cheer, her optimism is never in question. We love her because we need her emotional support and her belief that all will turn out well … We love Mary Ann because of Dawn Wells.” I think the last sentence is a far more appropriate epitaph than all the rest of the virtual analytical ink spilled. Even though it took health problems to unleash it, I’m glad she was shocked aware of the depth of the affection among her fans when the gofundme to pay for them blasted through expectations, and hope that she understood that even as COVID took her from us too early.Rest in peace.
Awwwwww that entire paragraph hurts.
Okay. NOW this is real!
Rest in peace.
She could sure plug a cookbook…
Rest Well Ms. Wells, you’ll be long remembered. Mary Ann all the way. Way ta make it weird, AVClub.
She’s on that Big Three Hour Tour in the Sky now.
I last saw her on Love on the Spectrum. One of the stars was a big fan and met her at a con. She was as sweet to him as you’d hope she’d be. RIP.
What a shitty end to a shittier year: Trump murdered our sweet Mary Ann.
FFS.
I want to know more about this Covid related death. My 94 year old Mom passed recently while in the hospital. Towards the end of her time there, she tested positive for Covid 19. I personally spoke with the Doctor on several occasions during which he assured me that she was exhibiting no real symptoms, simply testing positive.Sure enough, on her death certificate, Covid 19 was given as the cause of her death. Bullshit. Mom died because she was tired of living as she been making clear to us for a while. She refused to eat, and basically blocked any communications with us before she tested positive. Mom died of old age, period. It seems that every person who has died in the past 6 months has died of Covid 19. I’ll say it again. Bullshit.
I see 2020 couldn’t resist one last kick in the balls on its way out the door.
There’s a few hours left. I hope Alison Brie is taking it easy tonight.
We must form a protective barrier around Betty White!!!
… and someone check on Mel Brooks.
There are Mary Ann guys and Ginger guys. Trust me ladies, you want a Mary Ann guy.
Mee-WOW!
and then there were those of us guys who were ALL about the Professor. <_<
With every bit of pop culture being turned “dark and gritty” these days, I’m surprised no one has done that to Gilligan’s Island yet.Come up with reasons for this widely diverse group to be on this nondescript charter boat…..I’m thinking Skipper Jonas Grumby does “favors” for organized crime; drug smuggling, perhaps. It’s easy to transfer shipments when you run a small, independent excursion boat. And you’re forced to take on that oaf Gilligan as a “mate”, because he’s the boss’ nephew (or something like that).Professor Roy Hinkley? Well, he’s worried that they might figure out he “fudged” the data in that report…. He needs to lay low for a bit, and come up with a plausible excuse…As for Mary Ann?“No one ever gave her any attention until she became the heiress to the family fortune. As one of the top agribusiness concerns in the state, it was a rather substantial fortune…. But she could see through all of their designs – they were in it just for the money. She took care of them, alright. She was much smarter than they were. None of them – not even that oaf of a sheriff – could ever put two and two together and notice how her “suitors” all managed to meet with peculiar “accidents”…. The last one, though, was a bit messier than the others. She needed to duck away for a while to let things cool down. It would also give her a chance to dump the weapon where no one would ever find it….”
Someone wrote a book called Gilligan’s Wake, where it was implied that the whole thing was an experiment by the Professor, who could leave the island the whole time.
I think Lost was the gritty reboot
The gritty reboot of Gilligan’s Island was No Escape.
Definitely Mary AnnR.I.P. Dawn Wellsmissed but never forgotten
Dawn Wells was the best!
“wholesomeness”.Shouldn’t we all be chasing that?
As if 2020 didn’t suck already….Rest well on that Uncharted Desert Isle in the Summerlands, Dawn Wells.
Well that sucks. Part of my impressionable childhood has literally died.