Mary Ann Summers is a fictional character in the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...

'' which ran on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

network from 1964 to 1967, and has run more or less continuously since in reruns. She was played by actress

Dawn Wells Dawn Elberta Wells (October 18, 1938 – December 30, 2020) was an American actress known for her role as Mary Ann Summers on the CBS sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. Early life Wells was born to Evelyn (née Steinbrenner) and Joe Wesley Wells ...

Character summary

Mary Ann was portrayed by actress

. She is an

ingénue The ''ingénue'' (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. ''Ingénue'' may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such roles ...

, the typical

girl next door The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in romantic stories. She is so named because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a mutual friendship that later often ...

, and a

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

as well as a friend to glamorous

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

star

Ginger Grant Ginger Grant is a fictional character portrayed by actress Tina Louise in the 1964 to 1967 television sitcom ''Gilligan's Island''. Character summary Born in New York City on September 1, 1937, Grant is a "movie star" and would casually ment ...

, played by

Tina Louise Tina Louise ( Blacker; born February 11, 1934) is an American actress widely known for her role as movie star Ginger Grant in the CBS television situation comedy ''Gilligan's Island''. With the death of Dawn Wells in 2020, Louise became the las ...

. In addition, her practical domestic skills and plain, good, common sense make her an indispensable member of the group. She is from

Winfield, Kansas Winfield is a city and county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in South Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College. Hi ...

, a farm girl, and a reference to

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of its ...

as played by

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

in the 1939 classic movie '' The Wizard of Oz'' (occasionally wearing Dorothy's ubiquitous pigtails and a gingham dress). Mary Ann is in her late teens to early twenties. She was traveling alone on the "three-hour tour", which she had won in a contest. She tells the others that she has a boyfriend named Horace Higgenbotham from Horner's Corners, Kansas, so they would think she has someone special waiting for her, but confesses later that he is "a real creep" and not her boyfriend at all.Season 2, episode 18, "The Postman Cometh" In ''

Rescue from Gilligan's Island ''Rescue from Gilligan's Island'' is a 1978 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–67 sitcom '' Gilligan's Island'', starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale, Jr., and featuring all th ...

'', she is revealed to be in fact engaged and that her fiancé had waited 15 years for her, but when she was finally rescued, they no longer loved each other, and he married her best friend instead. Mary Ann mentions her mother and father in passing and only very briefly, such as when she tells about her father going

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

, before the shipwreck, due to a dishonest business partner, but references her Aunt Martha and Uncle George multiple times, leading some to believe that she lived with them and that her parents may be deceased, another connection to ''The Wizard of Oz''. However, her parents seem to be alive in ''

''. In "Two on a Raft", the Honolulu-based AM radio newsreader only states, "the attractive brunette" is "employed at the Winfield General Store". Mary Ann Summers was not in the original pilot. They had Bunny, a secretary who was a cheerful but not so bright blonde, played by

Nancy McCarthy Nancy McCarthy (born June 8, 1937 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as "Bunny" in the original 1963 pilot (unaired until 1992) for '' Gilligan's Island''. Career After the ''Gilligan's Island'' p ...

. Bunny was a co-worker of Ginger Grant, a brunette played by

Kit Smythe Kit may refer to: Places *Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill, Cornwall, England People * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kit (surname) Animals * Young animal ...

. After the pilot, both secretary characters were changed. Bunny was replaced by Mary Ann from Kansas, played by Dawn Wells. Ginger was changed from a secretary to a movie star from Hollywood, played by

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Mary Ann Gilligan's Island characters Fictional farmers Fictional characters from Kansas Television characters introduced in 1964 American female characters in television