Remembering Dawn Wells

She really was the favorite from Gilligan's Island.

Dawn WellsPhoto byCreative Commons: GabboT | Openverse

Over the past couple of years I’ve done probably hundreds of pieces about celebrities. Generally speaking, the subjects have been males. One of the reasons for that is generally speaking, those articles have gotten more response than female subjects. However, I wanted to see if a piece about Dawn Wells might buck that trend.

Despite not being a particular favorite of critics, Gilligan’s Island has found a huge following. During the show’s run, and for years afterwards, a burning question was whether Ginger or Mary Ann was more popular. Or something like that. I believe that Mary Ann was the big winner in that contest. Beyond that, here are some things you might not have known about Dawn Wells.

1: After Gilligan’s Island shut down, Dawn still interacted with a lot of the cast.

She was the only cast member to attend the funeral of Alan Hale Jr. in 1990. On second thought, I’m not sure that can be called interacting.

2: She was Miss Nevada in 1959 and competed in the Miss America contest in 1960.

So, the castaways were stranded on a desert island with a beauty contestant and movie star and were trying to get off that island. Maybe Gilligan wasn’t as dumb as they thought.

3: Dawn was a caregiver for Natalie Schafer near the end of Natalie, aka Lovie Howell’s life.

Well, it stands to reason that a millionaire’s wife could afford private health care.

4: For years, Dawn was the spokesperson for Idaho Potatoes.

A video of her showing the perfect way to peel a potato has received over ten million views. The good news is the technique is really cool, the bad news it takes a while. Well, Dawn was in Idaho at the time, and I guess she was in no hurry. Here’s the link: Bing Videos

5: After her days on Gilligan’s Island, Dawn became an author.

In addition to Gilligan’s Island related cookbooks, she also wrote, “What Would Mary Ann Do?” Ironically, in most cases Mary Ann would bake a coconut cream pie. Hold on, being told that’s not the case. But generally speaking, baking pie is never a bad idea.

6: In 2018, Dawn suffered an unexpected hospitalization which she couldn’t afford.

A Go Fund Me page was established for her. At one point, near the end of her life, her net worth was estimated to be at about only $50,000. And, based on my financial situation, I probably shouldn’t have put the word, “only” in there.

7: Censors told Dawn, aka Mary Ann, to pull up her shorts.

They didn’t want her to show her navel, thus the edict to pull up those shorts. Basically, like an old man pulls up his pants. Checking, and I’m proud to say my belt is still below my waist.

8: In addition to her stint on Gilligan’s Island, Dawn also made the rounds of a number of TV shows during the 60s, including a few westerns.

Included in those westerns was an appearance on Bonanza. She played an Indian woman named Moon. I was afraid she might have been one of the Cartwright’s love interests and been killed.

9: Dawn was busted for drug possession on her 60th birthday.

I won’t go into specifics, but she basically ended up being sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation. What is interesting is how many people were willing to give her an alibi. As one headline put it, maybe Mary Ann should have been named Mary Jane. Despite that, Dawn’s image remained pretty much intact.

10: Dawn wanted to be a ballerina before a dislocated knee derailed that pursuit.

Then she had to pivot to something else.