She of course deserves her own thread. Some facts about every gay man's favorite castaway from "Gilligan's Island":
*She was extremely wealthy thanks to smart investments in real estate, and so actually was an actual millionaire in her own right when the series started
*She lied for most of her adult life about her age. By the time of Gilligan's island she told everyone she had been born in 1912, though she had actually been born in 1900! She was a good decade older than her co-star Jim Backus, who played her husband Thurston
*She first came to public attention with the plum role of "that BITCH Allison DuBois," the frivolous fashion magazine assistant editor, in the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin musical "Lady in the Dark"
*She insisted doing her own stunts on "Gilligan's Island," and told people she especially loved being trapped in quicksand on the show.
*She swam every day, which she said allowed her to indulge in what she called "the ice cream diet," wherein she could have ice cream every day so long as she swam to keep her figure
*All the castmates adored her (except of course for Tina Louise, who disliked everyone), and she grew especially close to Dawn "Mary Ann" Wells, who cared for her in her old age. It has been rumored she left a good part of her fortune to Wells, who has never commented on it. It has also been suggested she left a lot of money to her dogs. She DID certainly leave quite a lot of money to the Lillian Booth Actors Home in LA, which used the money to renovate their hospital outpatient wing, which they renamed in her honor
*Her character "Lovey" Howell is one of the only two characters whose actual full name is never revealed entirely on the show (the other is Gilligan--we learn in the pilot that the skipper's real name is Jonas Grumby, and the Professor's is Roy Hinkle). Sherwood Schwartz insisted her real first name was Eunice, but that's never said on the show. Mr. Howell and Erica Tiffany Smith (Zsa Zsa Gabor) call her "Lovey," and the other castaways only ever refer to her or address her (respectfully) as "Mrs. Howell," although in one episode the Professor does address the Howells as "Thurston" and "Lovey." Schwartz also insisted Gilligan's real name was "Willy Gilligan," but that first name is never used on the show, and Bob Denver always countered in later interviews that Gilligan just had the one name (like "Cher").
*We do know from one episode that Mrs. Howell's maiden name was Wentworth, and Mr. Howell in another episode says she was an heiress and that her father was "loaded."
*She seems to have had breast cancer at one point in her life but never spoke of it. She died of liver cancer (the first cast member of the show to die) at age 90.
*She was married for nine years to the respected stage and screen actor Louis Calhern, from 1943-1952. They remained very close friends after their divorce. They had no children.
*She was quite a drinker! Russell Johnson, who played the Professor, said she told everyone she loved to partake of what she called "Joy in the Morning," and it turned out that meant she had a bottle of clear hard liquor (he never found out what exactly it was) that was labelled "Joy" in one of her library bookcases that she swigged happily from every morning.
