Gilligan is a fictional character played by
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne Denver (January 9, 1935 – September 2, 2005) was an American comedic actor who portrayed Gilligan on the 1964–1967 television series ''Gilligan's Island'', and beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 series ''The Ma ...
on the 1960s TV show ''
Gilligan's Island'' and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called "little buddy" by
the "Skipper", is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone
first mate
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...
of the . His first name, given in the pilot episode, is Willie. He wears a trademark red shirt, pale trousers, white sneakers, and white navy cap.
During a storm, he throws an anchor overboard without a rope attached, which leaves the ''Minnow'' shipwrecked on an "uncharted desert isle" with its seven passengers and crew, establishing the underlying premise of the franchise. The enduring popularity of the series has made him a
cultural icon
A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic ...
.
Background
Gilligan served in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
with Jonas Grumby (the Skipper) during an unspecified war and saved him from being killed by a runaway
depth charge. Upon retirement, Grumby, described as "an old salt in these waters", used his savings to buy the ''Minnow'', and as the captain (or "Skipper" as he was nearly invariably addressed), Grumby hired his "little buddy", Gilligan, as his first mate.
Gilligan's past and family are fleetingly mentioned during the series. Such characters include: an older brother from whom he swiped his ever-present red rugby shirt, his Uncle Ramsey (who was the guide for "The Lost Battalion" in World War One), possibly a sister, his cousin Rudolph, his father (who wore glasses and a mustache and was short), his grandmother, whose advice he imparts to Ginger during the episode "Don't Bug The Mosquitoes", Aunt Sarah, who had a "sneaky disease", and an Uncle John who was apparently illiterate. He once mentions he was born in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, but no city is specified.
Personality
The character of Gilligan is noted for
physical comedy, often with his friend the Skipper in the role of a
comic foil
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases fo ...
.
Recurring gags of the show include Gilligan's seduction by
Ginger, eating
Mary Ann's coconut cream pies, joking about the Skipper's weight, and inadvertently undermining any attempts and efforts of the castaways to get off the island. He often interjects discussions with pointless anecdotes about his childhood or with seemingly useless advice. Though he is often chided by the Skipper for interrupting, on more than one occasion, Gilligan's seemingly random nonsense actually triggers
the Professor to remember a useful fact or suggest a course of action. In some episodes, he attempts to make an important suggestion, but is interrupted by the Skipper or another castaway, who tells him to be quiet until the discussion is practically over, when he is able to tell them. Examples of this include the episode where he discovers waterproof glue that turns out to be temporary and that the boat will sink. His warning is ignored until the point when the boat's boards come undone. Another time when a butterfly collector comes to the island and refused to signal until he got what he came for, the castaways are arguing amongst themselves about the collector's recalcitrance and ignoring Gilligan, until he gets in the last word by saying he stole the man's flare gun.
Despite his bumbling nature, Gilligan has an innate innocence of character that causes the others to forgive his mistakes. He occasionally saves the others when an escape plan goes awry. He performs virtually all manual labor on the island, mostly without complaint; the Skipper notes that Gilligan can "run as fast as a rabbit
ndclimb a tree like a monkey". Gilligan often acts as the Howells' servant; duties include golf caddy, chauffeur for the castaways' pedal-powered car, and waiter at the "Howell Private Country Club".
Gilligan also makes several discoveries, but they often have disastrous results, and he is usually faced with big decisions. Often,
Thurston Howell III
Thurston Howell III (mentioned in the opening credits as: "The Millionaire") is a character on the CBS television sitcom '' Gilligan's Island'', which ran from 1964 to 1967, and later in syndication.
Portrayal
Howell, portrayed by veteran chara ...
attempts to bribe him with money, or Ginger with seduction or fake crying. Examples include whom to give the last orange on the island, or whom to give hot water from a hole in the ground (which the Professor later discovers to be an active volcano). On one occasion, Gilligan finds seeds that gave people the
ability to read minds, but when the seeds prove to have disastrous results, he gathers up the bush and all the seeds on the island and burns them.
Despite frequently ruining plans to get off the island, his fellow castaways (the Skipper included) ultimately harbor affection for him. When Gilligan is bitten by a potentially fatal insect, everyone tries to find a cure, only to get bitten themselves (although the insect is later found to be harmless). Upon hearing this, Ginger and Mary Ann burst into tears, and the Skipper attempts to cheer them up by having them envision everyone getting off the island. This temporarily works, until Mary Ann says, "Except for Gilligan", before Ginger and she start crying again.
Gilligan is occasionally the exception to the rescue ruination, though. In the episode "The Big Gold Strike", which involves both the finding of the S.S. ''Minnow's'' life raft and repairing of it, along with the discovery of gold on the island, the Professor warns the castaways to not bring gold on the raft due to weight concerns, but every castaway brings a personal item with them to smuggle gold, with an alternate excuse as to why (including the Professor and the Skipper), causing the raft to sink in the lagoon and for them to lose both the raft and gold. However, after they all confess to bringing a bag of gold on the raft, they all turn and look at Gilligan, who realizes he is the only one who actually obeyed the Professor's warning, causing him to laugh and say, "That's a switch. Usually, I'm the one left holding the bag."
Ultimately, Gilligan's ineptitude ends up rescuing the castaways. In the 1978 film ''
Rescue from Gilligan's Island'' the group escapes certain death when a tsunami hits the island, by merging their huts into a makeshift boat. They are now off the island, but still adrift on the high seas. Gilligan lights a fire, which is immediately extinguished and he is scolded by the other castaways for such a harebrained activity. A
US Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
helicopter notices the smoke plume and investigates, positively identifying the lost castaways from the ''SS Minnow'' and remarks that the using a fire to signal was smart thinking, else they would have remained lost at sea and unnoticed.
In the Season 2 episode "
Nyet, Nyet -- Not Yet" a pair of Soviet
cosmonauts
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
encounter the castaways, and make the following observation of Gilligan's intelligence:
Cultural impact
Today, Gilligan is widely recognized as an American
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
icon; he ranked at 122nd place in the July 2003 list of 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons compiled by
VH-1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...
and
''People''.
Name
Gilligan's full name has been a subject of debate among fans of the series for decades.
On the 2004 DVD release of season one, ''Gilligan's Island – The Complete First Season'', a documentary called ''Before the Three Hour Tour'' shows that Sherwood Schwartz's original
treatment for the series indicated that Gilligan's full name in the failed pilot was to be "Willy Gilligan", but that rendition, with other unfamiliar castaways, was canned and did not air. The documentary also reveals that Schwartz found the name "Gilligan" by flipping through a Los Angeles telephone directory. Another story was that the term "Gilligan" was once mariner's slang for an unlucky or jinxed member of a ship's crew.
Bob Denver, on various television/radio interviews (''
The Pat Sajak Show'', KDKA radio), said that "Gil Egan" was his choice. The actor reasoned that because everyone yelled at the first mate, it ran together as "Gilligan". On the May 18, 1988, episode of the ''Late Show on Fox'', Denver said that Sherwood Schwartz told him Gilligan's first name was Willy.
Controversies
In 2015, the Canadian university
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...
launched a defamation lawsuit against its student union for having portrayed an "insulting" comparison of the Gilligan character with the members of the board of directors.
Appearances
Television series and films
* ''
Gilligan's Island'' – 98 episodes (1964–67)
* ''
The New Adventures of Gilligan
''The New Adventures of Gilligan'' is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation, which aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 seasons. The show was based on the 1964–1967 sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. A few years later, Fi ...
'' – animated, 24 episodes (1974–75)
* ''
Rescue from Gilligan's Island'' – TV movie (1978)
* ''
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island'' – TV movie (1979)
* ''
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
''The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island'' is a 1981 made-for-television comedy film. It is the third of three movies that reunited the cast of the 1964–1967 sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. The film aired on NBC on May 15, 1981.
Plot
The ...
'' – TV movie (1981)
* ''
Gilligan's Planet'' – animated, 13 episodes (1982)
* ''
Surviving Gilligan's Island'' – TV movie (2001)
Video games
* ''
The Adventures of Gilligan's Island'' (1990)
* ''
Gilligan's Island'' (1991)
Other appearances
* ''
The New Gidget
''The New Gidget'' is an American sitcom sequel to the original 1965–66 sitcom ''Gidget''. It aired in syndication from September 15, 1986, to May 12, 1988. The series was produced by original ''Gidget'' series producer Harry Ackerman and was la ...
'' – 1 episode: "Gilligidge Island" (1987)
* ''
ALF'' – 1 episode: "Somewhere Over the Rerun" (1987)
* ''
Baywatch
''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...
'' – 1 episode: "Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale" (1992)
* ''
Meego
MeeGo is a discontinued Linux distribution hosted by the Linux Foundation, using source code from the operating systems Moblin (produced by Intel) and Maemo (produced by Nokia). Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances ...
'' – 1 episode: "Mommy 'n' Meego" (1997)
References
External links
The Official Home of Bob Denver
{{Gilligan's Island cast
American male characters in television
Gilligan's Island characters
Fictional first officers
American culture
Fictional sailors
Fictional characters from Hawaii
Television characters introduced in 1964