Raquel Welch Was Nearly Stranded on ‘Gilligan’s Island’

For a situation comedy as derided by critics as Gilligan’s Island, there were a lot of actors vying to be shipwrecked among the castaways. Perhaps those grouchy TV reviewers would have enjoyed the sitcom better if ‘60s sex symbol Raquel Welch had won the part for which she auditioned.

Aha, you might be thinking, Welch would have been a natural for sultry movie star Ginger Grant. Except that’s not the role producers had in mind for Welch. Instead, she auditioned for farmgirl-next-door Mary Ann. While Welch was “a wonderful lady,” producer Sherwood Schwartz told Retrocrush, “she was just too sophisticated for the role.”

Gilligan’s Island’s history is littered with other casting what-ifs. For the show’s main character, Sherwood Schwartz had Dick Van Dyke’s brother, Jerry, in mind. “Jerry seemed just right as Gilligan,” Schwartz wrote in his book, Inside Gilligan’s Island. But Van Dyke’s agent wasn’t a fan of the proposed sitcom, advising his client to take a role in a different pilot instead. That show never became a series. “To this day, every time I meet Jerry,” Schwartz wrote, “he never fails to bemoan the fates that denied him the starring role in Gilligan’s Island.”

Producers had a difficult time casting the Skipper, auditioning several actors before landing on Alan Hale Jr. One of the actors who didn’t make the cut? All in the Family’s Carroll O’Connor, “who, I’m sure, is delighted the role of the Skipper escaped him,” said Schwartz. 

Tina Louise was reportedly a diva when she played Ginger Grant, but can you imagine Jayne Mansfield in the role? MeTV reports that producers approached the iconic actress for the part, but she didn’t want to be typecast as a blonde bombshell. 

Dabney Coleman, who went on to comedy stardom in 9 to 5 and Tootsie, tested for the role of the Professor, but lost out to… John Gabriel? Not only did Gabriel win the part, but he starred in the pilot alongside other lost-to-history actors Kit Smythe and Nancy McCarthy, who played Ginger and Mary Ann. 

Schwartz doesn’t exactly explain why the three actors were replaced with Louise, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson. “They were obviously good enough in their roles to help me sell the series,” he wrote. “They also helped the pilot get terrific scores in audience testing.” But while Schwartz remembered the actors “with warmth and gratitude,” they didn’t get the residual checks. 

The only cast member who should have had a job from the jump was Jim Backus as Mr. Howell. Schwartz wrote the role specifically for the man behind Mr. Magoo, a comic actor with whom he’d worked on the early sitcom hit, I Married Joan. But Backus had committed to another pilot months earlier, forcing Schwartz to choose between character actors he believed would do a credible job. 

But right before the Gilligan pilot was filmed, the other project fell through, and Backus was suddenly available. Because he was an established star, Schwartz asked for more money, and CBS signed off immediately, happy for the name recognition. Without seeing a script, Backus hopped aboard the S.S. Minnow for a five-season voyage.