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RIP "Gilligan" Bob Denver

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  • RIP "Gilligan" Bob Denver

    Goodbye, Gilligan

    BY DAVID HINCKLEY
    DAILY NEWS WRITER
    New York Daily News
    Wednesday, September 7th, 2005


    Gilligan has left the island.

    Bob Denver, who played the lovably cartoonish title character on the 1960s TV sitcom "Gilligan's Island" and parlayed that role into comfortable cult celebrity, died Friday at Wake Forest University Hospital in North Carolina. He was 70. He died from complications of a cancer treatment he had been receiving, said his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. He had also undergone quadruple bypass surgery this year.


    On "Gilligan's Island," which ran from 1964 to 1967 and centered on the adventures of seven people stranded on an uncharted Pacific island, Denver played an inept schemer whose rescue plans inevitably crumbled into comic chaos.

    Helped by a catchy and much-parodied theme song, "Gilligan's Island" became a loopy landmark of its era, and the Gilligan image would follow Denver for the rest of his life. But unlike some performers, he never seemed to resent it.

    He participated in live and filmed reunions, ran a "Gilligan's Island" Web site and offered membership in the "Gilligan's Island" fan club to anyone who bought his autobiography.

    Asked recently about his best and worst memories, he said, "I have no worst experiences."

    After "Gilligan," he briefly replaced Woody Allen in the Broadway show "Play It Again, Sam," and he starred in three short-lived TV series, "The Good Guys," "Dusty's Trail" and the children's show "Far Out Space Nuts."

    In addition to three "Gilligan" reunion TV movies, he often did live reunion tours with Russell Johnson, who played the egghead professor, and Dawn Wells, who played the country girl. He reprised the character in the film comedy "Back to the Beach."

    Had Gilligan not come along, Denver might be remembered, though not as well, for his earlier portrayal of pseudo-beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959-1963 show "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."

    Krebs, who played the bongos, avoided work and spoke in phrases like "You rang?" was widely dismissed as a clueless TV caricature of a "beat."

    Though Denver admitted he knew nothing about beatniks, few other '50s sitcoms praised Thelonius Monk, and Bob Dylan was among those who later saluted the value of even a cartoon "beatnik" on prime-time TV.

    Dwayne Hickman, who played Dobie Gillis, said Denver was "a real professional - a natural comedian and a pleasure to work with."

    Born in New Rochelle, Denver graduated from Loyola University in Los Angeles and worked as a mailman and a high school history and math teacher before he answered an open audition call for Krebs and beat out several hundred other actors for the role.

    Denver is survived by his wife, Dreama, and four children, Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin.


    I did not know there was a Gilligan's Island Slot Machine, the poor old guy did not look too happy in his old age still wearing that same damn hat.







    Attached Files
    Last edited by Steve; 09-07-2005, 07:25 PM.
    I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.
    "Life can keep providing the rain and I'll keep providing the parade."
    "I would just like to say that after all these years of heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don't need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle."
    "Whatever guy said that money don't buy you pleasure didn't know where to go shopping"

  • #2
    aww...

    little buddy.....
    Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

    "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

    Comment


    • #3
      Well, he won't get busted for smoking the herbage where he's at now.
      practice wu de

      Comment


      • #4
        Yippee, he's finally been rescued!


        The rest of us should be so lucky.
        Peace, favor your sword. "In these modern times many men are wounded for not having weapons or knowledge of their use." Achille Marozzo, 1536 Donald Corey Pillow

        Familiarity breeds Contempt

        Citizens should not fear their governments; governments should fear their citizens.

        There ain't a wrong way to do right or a right way to do wrong! Joe Frazier

        Ignorance is Bliss

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