‘Gilligan’s Island’ star Dawn Wells ‘embraced her character Mary Ann,’ pal says: ‘She adored her fans’

Dawn Wells, who played the wholesome Mary Ann among a misfit band of shipwrecked castaways on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” died in 2020 at age 82.

"She was the only normal person in the show," the 75-year-old shared. "She was the one everyone identified with. All the other folks were extreme characters. But Mary Ann seemed like the girl next door. The girls loved her because she was like their best friend. And the guys loved her because she was cute and accessible to them. Ginger (Tina Louis) was a voluptuous movie star. She almost seemed untouchable to mere mortals. But Mary Ann was the cute one who you could easily be friends with."

Schwartz is the son of Sherwood Schwartz, who created both "Gilligan’s Island" and "The Brady Bunch." Sherwood Schwartz died in 2011 at age 94, but the late star’s classic TV shows have lived on with the younger Schwartz, as keeper of the flame. Most recently, the writer has kept busy working on his latest comedy, "Classic Couples Counseling," which opens at Hollywood’s Theatre West April 1.