‘Gilligan’s Island’ Star Tina Louise Reveals She ‘Never Knew What a Real Home Was’: Inside Her Life

She became a household name playing a castaway, but today Tina Louise has traded Gilligan’s Island for the isle of Manhattan. “I love the view from my windows,” she says of her luxurious home in a high-rise on the Upper East Side.

The New York native enjoys the peaceful life she’s created. She walks every day to stay fit, reads stories to her grandchildren, and accepts new projects only when they appeal to her. Tina is most excited to share the audiobook she recorded of her 1997 memoir, Sunday, about her lonely childhood spent in boarding schools. “I never knew what a real home was because my only memory is being moved around from place to place,” she explains. “People shouldn’t bring children into the world if they’re not able to hug and love them.”

Tina realized her life’s ambitions soon after being “rescued” from one particularly shabby school. “I saw my friend in a play, and I told my mother I’d like to go to a school where I could study acting,” says Tina, who as a teenager took classes at New York’s legendary Neighborhood Playhouse.

She was appearing on Broadway with Carol Burnett and Jack Cassidy in the musical Fade Out — Fade In when she was offered the role of Ginger on Gilligan’s Island. “A CBS casting director asked if I’d like to play a Lucille Ball/Marilyn Monroe type character,” recalls Tina. “I said I could do that because I loved those women, and I understood Marilyn because we both had similar childhoods.”

The last surviving cast member of the beloved TV series remembers her costars fondly. “The Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.) was a sweetheart,” Tina says. “And Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III) was hilarious. He would tell me what went on during his psychiatry sessions. And Natalie (Schafer, Mrs. Howell) was great.”

Dawn Wells, best known as Mary Ann, passed on the recipe for her family’s sweet potato soufflé to Tina. “Now I watch my own grandchildren put the marshmallows on it every Thanksgiving,” she says.

Inside Tina Louise’s Family Life

Tina’s daughter, novelist Caprice Crane, was born in 1970. “I feel like whatever childhood I could have, I had with my daughter, who I raised by myself,” says the long-divorced star. “We would have Easter egg hunts, and on Christmas Eve I’d invite all of her friends over.” Today, Tina is a proud grandmother of twins. “Kingston and Clementine are now 6,” she gushes. “My daughter has been living in L.A., so I go to the library and read to them over the cellphone.”

Despite a rocky start, Tina admits her life turned out very well. “I’ve been very fortunate to do all the jobs I’ve done,” she says, “but I’m proudest and most grateful to have my daughter. She says I have to take care of myself so I can live another 40 years.”