Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Professor From Gilligan's Island Dies

Russell Johnson, who played  Professor Roy Hinkley on the classic TV show, Gilligan's Island has died.  A resident of the Pacific Northwest for over two decades, Johnson played a character that was really the antithesis of Gilligan, intelligent and competent.  Referred to only as "The Professsor, he was the straight man on the show, which also featured exaggerated caricatures of a sea captain, a bumbling first mate, a millionaire couple, a movie star, and a midwest farm girl.
Critics were not amused at the show and it's inplausable plot of the castaways settling on an uncharted island after a tour boat was lost in a storm, but America found it a great escape and a barrel of laughs.  The show lasted 4 seasons.
Tina Louise, who played Ginger and Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann, ironically the 2 single women characters in the show are the last survivors of the Gilligans Island cast.

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