Happy 90th Birthday to Tina Louise !

She used to be a bit pissy about the Ginger role and its lasting fame but seems to have mellowed and appreciates it. She was good in the original Stepford Wives. Formerly married to hot pioneering talk show host, Les Crane, the father of her daughter. Not much else.

They always come around those actors who are famous for one role and it's all people want to talk about. They finally accept it.

Except Alec Guiness who I think detested Star Wars till the end of his life no matter how rich it made him. I can't blame him. He appeared in many wonderful movies and Star Wars wasn't one of them.

Evil never dies!

R3 You certainly did & so did that young girl while you were at the Playboy Mansion that night!

I sure had a lot of ball gowns for that 3 hour tour. And apparently lots of hairspray and island sand in my crack.

Sure, I was bitchy, but I ended up back on that same sound stage years later dressing up/playing that bitch Roseanne Connor ("Sherwood Schwartz—A Loving Tribute")

Was known for giving great blow jobs. One of her best "clients" was CBS president James Aubrey, who was the inspiration for Jackie Susann's The Love Machine.

I thought Miss Tina and her wild mane were gorgeous in The Stepford Wives.

One of my favorite bits from Gilligan's Island. I think Madonna picked up some of the moves for her latest tour from Mrs. Howell.

[quote] She used to be a bit pissy about the Ginger role and its lasting fame but seems to have mellowed and appreciates it.

This seems to happen when they become barely-there celebrities. In fact we can think of it as Star Trek Syndrome because William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Patrick Steward all went through that phase.

Well she outlived Sherwood Schwartz and Bob Denver who insulted her for like 30 years after the show shut down because she wanted out of her contract which has always led me to wonder: Why didn’t they just let her out of her contract? What was the big deal?

She could’ve been replaced by myriad starlets in Hollywood. The Munsters replaced Marilyn, Bewitched replaced Darrin, Petticoat Junction seemed to be replacing their young female cast members on a regular basis. The Andy Griffith Show let Elinor Donahue out of her contract (it was a Me Too situation. Griffith liked to fuck his female costars and Elinor wasn’t interested)

So why not just release her? It was a common tv thing at the time.

I don't think Tina Louise was blameless in the situation. She was reputedly very bitchy towards Dawn Welles, whom she considered far beneath her, and didn't get along with the other cast members.

She was good on Married with Children

Did she ever spend the money to buy a surname or just go through life with two first names?

R13- Don't complain I'm named after two NYC mayors

Louise was bitchy in order to get out of her contact. She held up production and acted badly because she wanted to be let go. They wouldn’t let her go. What was the reasoning behind keeping her there when be-wigged, false eyelashed starlets were a dime a dozen in 1960s Hollywood? They were punishing her. For what, is what I’d like to know. Why not just let her go and everyone would be happy. Seems like some kind of weird power thing. Also, Denver was insistent that she get 5th billing. Why? I saw him on several talk shows over the years when he railed about that. “I made sure she only got 5th billing and she couldn’t have ‘also starring’ or ‘with’ in front of her face during the opening credits.”

WTF was up with that? I never heard of a tv star (especially a male tv star) demanding a cast member (especially a female cast member) be deliberately demeaned in opening credits in a 1964 sitcom. It’s bizarre.

No, she didn't, r13.

In the OP article, Dawn Wells says she was not difficult, presumably meaning in production, just unfriendly.

You have to admit Tina Louis is sui generis and I always look forward to seeing her. I wouldn't let her go either.

And Dick York was great in Bewitched but he had serious health problems. There's heat between him and Elizabeth Montgomery. With the other guy he's just an unfunny unhappy gay guy who Sam has picked up as a friend out of pity.

From what I’ve read, Tina lives a full life with her young daughter.

R19- Her daughter is hardly young at 53 years old.

Between Tina Louise and Robert Reed Sherwood Schwartz really had a difficult time making silly kids shows

At least they weren't hyphenated.

In the old Hollywood Kids magazine, they had an interview with Dawn and asked her to give descriptions of various GI castmates. Natalie Schaeffer she said "dear friend" and when they asked about Tina, she took a long pause and said "let's just say 'beautiful'".

[quote] which has always led me to wonder: Why didn’t they just let her out of her contract? What was the big deal?

[quote] She could’ve been replaced by myriad starlets in Hollywood. The Munsters replaced Marilyn, Bewitched replaced Darrin, Petticoat Junction seemed to be replacing their young female cast members on a regular basis.

Are you being serious? The show was about a band of people [italic]trapped on a desert island[/italic]. How were they supposed to replace her?

Is it true Jayne Mansfield was the first choice for Ginger but turned it down because she felt television was beneath her? It’s hard to imagine, considering she was playing those sad little juke joints in Biloxi and such. Oh, what could have been.

R10 R15 Tina had movie star looks (18 on a 1-10 scale) and had some serious acting chops, which is why they were reluctant to let her out of her contract. Either you would have to recast, which I don’t think would’ve worked (how can you recast the ideal looking woman? the reunion movies did a shitty job at this) or explain how Ginger left the island without anyone else. This was rumored to have been the option if GI was renewed for a fourth season with Ginger alone being rescued somehow. They thought Tina would leave, but Tina maintains she would’ve stayed. I think Denver was just jealous of the attention she got. From what I understand there wasn’t a lot of fighting on set, but Tina didn’t bond with the rest of the cast. If Tina makes it another year, she will surpass Natalie as the oldest living cast member.

And what a profound accomplishment that would be, r26

The best explanation for why they didn't let her out of her contract is what R26 pointed out -Despite a plethora of starlets available, she would have been very hard to recast. Not just the looks -she had talent and presence that made her believable as a star. She also showed intelligence under all that beauty. The people cast to replace her in the subsequent films were just pretty. Period.

Given all the cast changes on other 60s shows, "explaining" the change would have been simple: It would have been completely ignored on the show. In fact, the only show I can recall actually pointing out cast changes was the old Burns and Allen Show. See below.

Tina Louise is a cunt!

Maybe, R28, maybe. But she's famous, and has had some serious, first-class cock in her life. Can you say the same for yourself?

I think Carol Wayne or her sister, Nina, would have been solid recasts.

Carol Wayne would have resulted in even more opportunity for ironic drowning references. That might be worth feeding into AI..

The Gilligan lady!

I would get her mixed up with Suzy Parker. My mom had a girl crush on Suzy and took umbrage at me for not knowing the difference. One of my mom’s favorite movies is THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, and when I saw Suzy’s red mane and tall curvy body I cried out, It’s GINGER FROM GILLIGANS ISLAND!”. “NO, it’s NOT!”, mom said, already on her third glass of gin.

I can see being annoyed by Bob Denver. But Dawn Wells? Tina Louise got the "career" she deserved.

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