Dawn Wells

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Dawn Elberta Wells October 18 1938 December 30 2020 was an American actress who is best known for her role as Mary Ann Summers on the CBS sitcom Gilligans Island She and Tina Louise are the last surviving regular cast members from that series In Hollywood Wells made her debut on ABCs The Roaring 20s and the movie The New Interns and was cast in episodes of such television series as 77 Sunset Strip The Cheyenne Show Maverick and Bonanza before she took the role of Mary Ann on Gilligans Island She reprised her character in the various Gilligans Island reunion specials including the reunion cartoon spinoff Gilligans Planet and three reunion movies Rescue from Gilligans Island The Castaways on Gilligans Island and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligans Island She also appeared as a guest star on Wagon Train Tales of Wells Fargo 87th Precinct Surfside 6 Hawaiian Eye Ripcord The Everglades The Detectives Its a Mans World Channing Laramie Burkes Law The Invaders The Wild Wild West The FBI Vega The Love Boat Fantasy Island Matt Houston ALF Hermans Head Three Sisters Pastor Greg and Roseanne Following Gilligans Island Wells embarked on a theater career appearing in nearly one hundred theatrical productions as of July 2009 She spent the majority of the 1970s and 1980s touring in musical theater productions She also had a onewoman show at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1985 In 1993 Wells published Mary Anns Gilligans Island Cookbook with cowriters Ken Beck and Jim Clark including a foreword by Bob Denver She was close to Alan Hale Jr who played The Skipper in Gilligans Island even after the series completed its run and he contributed a family recipe Kansas Chicken and Dumplings to her cookbook Hales character was the inspiration behind such concoctions as Skippers Coconut Pie Skippers Navy Bean Soup and Skippers Goodbye Ribeye and he is depicted as Skipper Jonas Grumby in numerous photographs throughout the book She said in a 2014 interview with GoEriecom Alan could not have been kinder to a young actress He was a real peach In 2005 Wells consigned her original gingham blouse and shorts ensemble for sale from her signature role Beverly Hills auction house Profiles in History sold it for 20700 In 2008 she joined Gilligans Island creator Sherwood Schwartz in Los Angeles for the celebration of Schwartzs entry into the Hollywood Walk of Fame She appeared on the Celebrity Holiday Bash episode of Food Networks Chopped which first aired December 1 2013 In 2014 Wells released What Would Mary Ann Do A Guide to Life which she cowrote with Steve Stinson The book was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Gilligans Island Gilligans Island costar Russell Johnson died on January 16 2014 and Wells and Tina Louise are the only surviving cast members of the sitcom In May 2016 Wells was named Marketing Ambassador to MeTV Network In January 2019 Wells was seen promoting the Gilligans Island television series on the MeTV television network CLR