Mary Ann Summers

Mary Ann Summers is a fictional character in the television sitcom Gilligan's Island which ran on the CBS network from 1964 to 1967, and has run more or less continuously since in reruns.

Role

Mary Ann was portrayed by actress Dawn Wells. She was an ingenue and a foil, as well as a friend, to glamorous Hollywood star Ginger Grant, played by Tina Louise. In addition, her practical domestic skills and plain, good common sense make her an indispensable member of the group. She is a Winfield, Kansas farm girl, a reference to Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic movie The Wizard of Oz (occasionally wearing Dorothy's ubiquitous pigtails and a gingham dress).

She was traveling alone on the "three-hour tour" that was lost at sea, and was in her late teens to early twenties—an age which she pinpoints in the Season 2, Episode 30 "V for Vitamins" when she says, "Women and children first, so I get two votes." In many episodes it is clear that she has a crush on Gilligan. She repeatedly tells him how wonderful he is, repeatedly kisses him on the cheek, and is usually the only castaway to not blame him so harshly for everything that goes wrong.

She tells the others in Season 2, Episode 18, "The Postman Cometh," that she has a boyfriend named Horace Higgenbotham from Horners Corners, Kansas, so they will think she has someone special, but confesses later that he's "a real creep" and not her boyfriend at all.

Mary Ann mentions her mother and father in passing only very briefly, 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.

In the series' (second) pilot "Two on a Raft" (Season 1, Episode 1), the Honolulu-based AM radio news reader only states that "the attractive brunette" is "employed at the Winfield General Store." Mary Ann confesses to Mr. Howell in Season 1, Episode 6 "President Gilligan" that she's only a clerk.