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Gilligan
Gilligan
Gilligan
Aliases: Willy Gilligan [1]
Little Buddy [2]
Series: Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Planet
Gender: Male
Notability: Main character
Location: S.S. Minnow
Deserted island
Status: Alive
Actor: Bob Denver

Gilligan is a fictional first mate on a charter boat and the main character from the 1964-1967 CBS comedy series Gilligan's Island. Played by actor Bob Denver, he appeared in all ninety-eight episodes of the series, as well as three made-for-TV spin-off films. Denver reprised the role of Gilligan as a voice actor for the 1982 animated television series Gilligan's Planet.

Biography[]

Gilligan was a young man who served as first mate on a charter boat owned by Skipper Jonas Grumby called the S.S. Minnow. He was caring and kind-hearted individual, albeit a bit naive. The Skipper considered him his "Little Buddy", but was also quickly irritated by Gilligan for his buffoonery and clumsiness. The two worked out of a dock in Honolulu, Hawaii, and would give out boat tours to visitors. One particular group consisted of five passengers including: Mister Thurston Howell, III, his wife Lovey Howell, Professor Roy Hinkley, Jr., Ginger Grant and Mary Ann Summers. The Skipper took them out on the Minnow for a projected three-hour tour. The boat was caught up in a massive tropical storm and blown miles off-course, ultimately getting shipwrecked on an uncharted deserted island. It was fortunate that Gilligan was able to drop anchor as they approached the island, and "if not for the courage of her fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost". Gilligan and the others spent the next fifteen years trying to divine a way to get off the island.

As the youngest member of the group, Gilligan was often handed the majority of tasks, most of which were delegated by the Skipper, whom he bunked with in a hut that they had built. Gilligan was always patient, polite and respectful, but was also quick-witted, owing to a sense of intelligence that none of the others ever really attributed to him. Everyone loved Gilligan, and despite his constant lapses in sound judgment, always seemed to come out on top of a tense situation. Conversely however, Gilligan was also his own worst enemy, and he has inadvertently sabotaged the group's means of escaping the island on more than one occasion.

Fifteen years later, a large tsunami swept across the Pacific Ocean, threatening to destroy the island. Gilligan and the Skipper managed to bind three huts together as a single giant raft and rode out the waves to sea as the storm devastated the island. Luckily enough, they were found by the United States Coast Guard and were able to get back to Hawaii.

The Shipper used the insurance money from the first Minnow to buy a new charter boat called the Minnow II. To celebrate it, he invited all of the castaways to come aboard for a free cruise. Karma has never been kind to any of these individuals, and through the most impossible of coincidences, the Minnow II was likewise caught up in a wild storm, which blew them miles off course. They landed on an island and Gilligan found a piece of wood with the word "Minnow" painted upon it. They realized they had now returned to the original island, but in Gilligan's eyes, they had simply returned home.

Notes & Trivia[]

  • The character of Gilligan was created by series showrunner and executive producer Sherwood Schwartz.

See also[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. This was the name provided for the character in the original unused shooting script by Sherwood Schwartz. Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island.
  2. This was the Skipper's nickname for Gilligan.
  3. IMDB; Bob Denver; Biography.


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