Dawn Wells, wholesome castaway on ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ dies at 82 of coronavirus

Dawn Wells in Marina Del Rey, Calif., in 2004. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Dawn Wells, an actress best known as the pig-tailed Kansas farm girl turned castaway on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” died Dec. 30 at an assisted-living facility in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 82.

The cause was complications from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, said a spokesman, Harlan Boll.

A drama major who was crowned Miss Nevada in 1959, Ms. Wells parlayed her pageant success into a show-business career. She made scores of screen and stage appearances over five decades, but none as memorable as her role as Mary Ann on the CBS show about a motley group of tour-boat passengers marooned on an uncharted South Pacific island.

“Gilligan’s Island,” which aired from 1964 to 1967, claimed an enduring place — as inexplicable as it was irrefutable — in pop culture. The show was dismissed by reviewers and even some network executives as escapist filler on the TV schedule, low brow and slapstick. But it became one of the most popular programs ever in reruns, spawning occasional TV movies that reunited most of the original cast.

See full article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/dawn-wells-dead/2020/12/30/c7546744-b84a-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html

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