| Gilligan | |
|---|---|
| Gilligan's Island character | |
| First appearance | Gilligan's Island |
| Last appearance | The Real Gilligan's Island |
| Created by | Sherwood Schwartz |
| Portrayed by | Bob Denver |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Little buddy |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | First mate |
Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show Gilligan's Island and its many sequels. It starred Bob Denver as "Gilligan", the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone crewman (affectionately known as "Little Buddy" by the "Skipper") of the S.S. Minnow. None of the show's episodes ever specified Gilligan's full name or clearly indicated whether "Gilligan" was the character's first name or his last. In the DVD collection, Sherwood Schwartz states that he preferred the full name of "Willy Gilligan" for the character. 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." In the unaired pilot episode, it is unclear whether Lovey Howell refers to Gilligan as "Stewart" or steward. In Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the writers artfully dodged Gilligan's full name when the other names are announced.
Gilligan wears a trademark red shirt, pale trousers and white navy cap. He was the first mate on the S. S. Minnow when, during a storm, he threw an anchor overboard without a rope attached, which left the boat shipwrecked on an "uncharted" desert island with all aboard. The enduring popularity of the series has made him a cultural icon.
Contents |
Gilligan served in the United States Navy with Jonas Grumby, and saved the latter from being struck and killed by a runaway depth charge. Upon retirement, Grumby used his savings to buy the Minnow, and as the Minnow's captain (or "Skipper" as he was nearly invariably addressed), Grumby hired his "little buddy", Gilligan, as first mate.
Gilligan's past and family are not mentioned during the series, except for his older brother, from whom he swiped his ever-present red shirt, a sister whose best friend was broken up by her boyfriend, and an uncle who was apparently illiterate. He once mentioned he was born in Pennsylvania, but no city was specified. He would sometimes mention his childhood friends, Skinny Mulligan and Fatso Flannigan, possibly implying that he came from a predominately Irish-American neighborhood.
The character of Gilligan is noted for physical comedy, often with his friend the Skipper in the role of a straight man. Continuing gags of the show involve 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 would often interject discussions with pointless anecdotes about his childhood or with seemingly useless advice. Though he was often chided by The Skipper for interrupting, on more than one occasion Gilligan's seemingly random nonsense would actually trigger The Professor to remember a useful fact or suggest a course of action to the academic.
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; in the episode The Hunter, the Skipper notes that Gilligan can "run as fast as a rabbit [and] climb a tree like a monkey."
Gilligan also makes several discoveries, but they often have disastrous results, and Gilligan is usually faced with big decisions. Often Mr. Howell will attempt to bribe him with money, or Ginger with seduction or fake crying. Examples include who to give the last orange on the island, or who to give hot water from a hole in the ground (which the Professor later discovered to be an active volcano). On one occasion, Gilligan found seeds which gave people the ability to read minds, but when the seeds proved to have disastrous results, he gathered up all the seeds on the island and burned them.
Despite frequently ruining plans to get off the island, his fellow castaways (the Skipper included) ultimately harbor affection for him. When Gilligan was bitten by a potentially fatal insect and showed all the symptoms following the bite, everyone tried to find a cure, only to get bitten themselves (although the insect was 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 she and Ginger start crying again.
Despite an awkward exterior, Gilligan has shown some intelligence. He tenaciously guards his position, particularly when someone tries to use him. Gilligan has also proven his willingness to "step up to the plate" should leadership call – although, if Gilligan doesn't break the plate, it usually fractures. In the end, a double measure of fortune corrects his missteps. Gilligan, like Barney Fife, Gomer Pyle and other comic figures of the era, are termed unlikely or "backdoor" heroes, whose good intentions always win out over sheer stupidity.
Today Gilligan is widely recognized as an American popular culture icon; he ranked at 122nd place in the July 2003 list of 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons compiled by VH-1 and People magazine.
Gilligan's full name has been a subject of debate among fans of the series for decades, which was somewhat resolved by the release of Gilligan's Island — The Complete First Season on DVD in 2004. In a documentary called Before the Three Hour Tour, excerpts from Sherwood Schwartz's original treatment for the series reveal that Gilligan's full name was to be "Willy Gilligan". But that rendition failed and was not aired. The documentary also reveals that Schwartz found the name "Gilligan" by flipping through an Iranian phone book.[1] Despite the creator's choice of first name, no name but Gilligan is used in any of the three seasons, animated series, TV movies, or even the first episode, which includes the names of the Professor and the Skipper (in the unaired pilot, Lovey Howell addresses Gilligan as "steward," as in a ship's steward, not Stewart as some devotees allege). So, just as "Columbo" is never officially given a first name on air, neither is Gilligan.
In Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the returning castaways' names are announced. The writers, heightening the folklore surrounding Gilligan, omitted the first mate's name despite providing the names of the others.
In the end of A Very Brady Sequel, a movie based on the Brady Bunch characters also created by Sherwood Schwartz, Carol Brady reveals that her first husband was a professor lost on a boat. Dr. Whitehead (played by John Hillerman) says "and my son Gilligan was first mate on that boat."
|
|||||||||||||||||