Editing Gilligan's Island (section)

=== Casting ===
[[Bob Denver]] was not the first choice to play Gilligan; actor [[Jerry Van Dyke]] was offered the role, but he turned it down, believing that the show would never be successful. He chose instead to play the lead in ''[[My Mother the Car]]'', which premiered the following year and is frequently cited as one of the worst television shows of all time; it was canceled after one season.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/jerry-van-dyke-coach-actor-dead-dies-1202655598/ |title=Jerry Van Dyke, Emmy-Nominated 'Coach' Actor, Dies at 86 |first1=Erin |last1=Nyren |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=January 6, 2018}}</ref> The producers looked to Bob Denver, the actor who had played [[Maynard G. Krebs]], the [[beatnik]] in ''[[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]''. Schwartz was initially reluctant to cast Denver, as he didn't want Gilligan to be a beatnik type character, but eventually agreed that Denver was a good choice.

Schwartz had an extremely difficult time casting role of the Skipper, as the character had to be gruff, but affable at the same time. Actor [[Carroll O'Connor]] was among those who auditioned, but could not bring the right combination into the role. Schwartz almost gave up, before actor [[Alan Hale Jr.]] became available, and was cast. According to his wife, "(Hale) was born to play the Skipper".

Schwartz had written the role of Thurston Howell III specifically for [[Jim Backus]], with whom he was close friends. However, at the time Backus was not immediately available for the role, holding out for a pilot to become a potential series, and he was too expensive to be hired for a supporting role with the show's limited budget. Eventually, Backus became available, and liked the script enough to join the cast, and CBS approved a budget increase to cast him.

[[Natalie Schafer]] had it written into her contract that no close-ups would be made of her, but it was forgotten after a while in the series. Schafer was 63 when the pilot was shot, although, reportedly, no one on the set or in the cast knew her actual age, and she refused to divulge it. Initially, she accepted the role only because the pilot was filmed on location in Hawaii. She looked at the job as nothing more than a free vacation, as she was convinced that a show this silly would "never go."{{Sfn | Stoddard | 1996 | p = 190}}

[[Tina Louise]] clashed with producer Sherwood Schwartz because she initially believed she was hired as the central character. The character of Ginger was originally written as a hard-nosed, sharp-tongued temptress, but Louise argued that this portrayal was too harsh and refused to play her as written. A compromise was reached; Louise agreed to play Ginger as a [[Marilyn Monroe]]/[[Jayne Mansfield]] type. Her temperament reportedly made her difficult to work with, but she was always professional when it came time to shoot. Louise continued to disagree with producers over her role and was the only cast member who refused to appear in any of the three post-series TV movies. After many years of distancing herself from the show, she appeared in a reunion of the cast on two television talk shows in 1982 and 1988 and on an episode of ''[[Roseanne]]'' in 1995 when the ''Roseanne'' cast re-enacted ''Gilligan's Island''. In the pilot episode, the character of Ginger was played by actress Kit Smythe.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Sherwood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCIlIyBNtzYC&dq=%22Gilligan%22+%22Kit+Smythe%22&pg=PA63 |title=Inside Gilligan's Island: A Three-Hour Tour Through The Making Of A Television Classic |date=1994-04-15 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-10482-5 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=63}}

[[Russell Johnson]] played the part of the Professor.  [[John Gabriel (actor)|John Gabriel]] was initially cast as the academic character, a high school teacher. After testing, the network didn't believe the character scored well with the audience. Auditions were held for the revised role of the Professor, which included [[Dabney Coleman]], but the part was ultimately won by [[Russell Johnson]]. Before his acting career, Johnson had served as a bombardier in 44 combat missions over the Pacific during World War II. On March 4, 1945, the B-25 he was flying as the navigator was shot down, killing the copilot and breaking both of Johnson's ankles. At the time of his audition, he worked primarily in movies and was not very interested in a television show unless he would be the leading character. His film career had been going well, tallying several science fiction and Western film credits, including a role opposite [[Ronald Reagan]] in the 1953 film ''[[Law and Order (1953 film)|Law and Order]]''. In addition to movies, Johnson had landed roles in multiple popular television series such as ''[[Adventures of Superman (TV series)|The Adventures of Superman]]'', ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' and ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]''. With six other leads, his agent had to talk him into going to the audition, but after meeting [[Sherwood Schwartz]], he started to warm up to the idea of playing the Professor. In discussing his role, he laughingly said he was unsure what was more difficult, remembering the Professor's technically oriented lines or looking up what they meant. {{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}<ref>https://metv.com/lists/8-actors-who-were-almost-cast-on-gilligans-island</ref><ref>https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dabney-coleman-dead-9-to-5-mary-hartman-tootsie-1235902521/</ref>

[[Dawn Wells]] was a former [[Miss Nevada]] when she auditioned for the Mary Ann role. Her competition included [[Raquel Welch]] and [[Pat Priest (actress)|Pat Priest]]. The pilot episode featured a different character ("Bunny") played by actress [[Nancy McCarthy]]. After it was shot, the network decided to recast the roles of the Professor and the two young women. Mary Ann became a simple farm girl from [[Winfield, Kansas]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}<ref>https://metv.com/lists/8-actors-who-were-almost-cast-on-gilligans-island</ref><ref>https://retrocrush.com/archives/165</ref>