Tina Louise became a superstar overnight when she played Ginger in the hit television series Gilligan’s Island. The New York native became a great actress, singer and model. However, she was often praised for her appearance rather than her work on screen.
Today, Louise is the only surviving cast member of Gilligan’s Island. The series changed her life forever, but her career consisted of more than just acting. Now 91, Louise is still going strong, and when you see her today, it’s hard to believe she’s not decades younger!
Let’s take a look at her remarkable life, career, and what she looks like today.
Tina Louise was born Tina Blaker on 11 February 1934 in New York City. Her father owned a bakery, and her mother worked as a model.
Tina Louise – Early Life and Career
When Tina was only four years old, her parents divorced, which made her childhood quite difficult.
‘My path was very unusual. I lived with lots of different cousins, aunts, strangers and so on and so forth, a kind of gypsy childhood,’ she told Authority magazine in 2019.
Growing up, Tina did not have big dreams of working in the entertainment industry. However, just a few weeks before she was due to start at the University of Miami, everything changed.
‘I saw my friend who got a role in a Broadway play, he was the same age as me, and I was very impressed,’ Tina Louise said in an interview with Authority Magazine.
‘My mum took me backstage, and I loved it,’ she continued. ‘And the fact that my friend was in the play encouraged me to continue. I told my mum that I wanted to leave university because the theatre department wasn’t enough for me.’
Tina’s mother knew that her daughter wanted to pursue a career in drama and granted her request. She began attending the Neighborhood Playhouse theatre in Manhattan, New York, which she says ‘was and remains a wonderful school.’
While Tina Louise was studying and honing her craft at the Neighborhood Playhouse theatre school, she also began working as a model. In addition, she worked as a singer in nightclubs. In 1952, she made her Broadway debut in Bette Davis’ musical Two Companies. At that time, her appearance captivated people, and she even appeared in Playboy magazine.
In 1957, Tina Louise released her first music album, It’s Time for Tina. She continued to work in theatre and received small roles in films. However, in 1958, her life changed.
Breakthrough role in the film God’s Little Acre
Her role as Griselda Walden in the drama God’s Little Acre made her a Hollywood star. The film received rave reviews, and Tina Louise ended up winning a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.
‘It was incredible,’ she told Forbes. “The film was selected for the Venice Film Festival. I went abroad. There were all these people around who cared about me. I didn’t have to worry about anything. We were sitting in the cinema, and I was given bright red roses [laughs]. I said, ‘Why did you give me roses? Give them to the screenwriter, the director — someone else.’
Instead of accepting Hollywood roles, Tina Louise went her own way. After God’s Little Acre, she focused on working on Broadway and also starred in several Italian films. In 1962, after returning from Europe, Louise began studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio.
‘Everything Lee Strasberg said was important. He would take your hand and see if it dropped — and how — to determine the level of relaxation in your body and spirit,’ Louise said in an interview with Esquire. He would say, ‘Make a sound.’ Some people started laughing, and sometimes it turned into tears. It wasn’t necessarily sadness — it all came from deep relaxation.”
She continued: ‘I learned a lot from Lee about deep relaxation in order to achieve something you are working on. And then I found myself on Gilligan’s Island, where someone tells you, “Go right.” ‘Go left.’ It was a reorganisation.’
Gilligan’s Island would make Tina Louise something of a Hollywood legend. Before landing the role, she had performed alongside Carol Burnett in the Broadway musical comedy Fade Out-Fade In. However, when Louise read the script, she wasn’t sure the role was right for her.
Tina Louise as Ginger in Gilligan’s Island
Originally, Kit Smit played the role of Ginger in the pilot. But when it was decided to drop the bombshell character, Tina Louise became the perfect choice.
Smith explained that Ginger was ‘part Marilyn [Monroe], part Lucille [Ball]…’ At first, she thought the scripts were ‘biting.’ But after a while, she realised that they were ‘light, funny and charming.’
‘I always had fun on that show. Ginger was flirtatious. Flirting is fun! Flirting is good,’ Louise said in an interview with the NY Post.
Tina Louise lasted all three seasons and a total of 98 episodes on the CBS sitcom. Although her role was beloved, she never reprised it in television or film for many years.
For decades and to this day, fans have been reaching out to her and sending her letters thanking her for her incredible performance as Ginger.
‘I receive letters every day at home. I appreciate the fact that they love the series. Once, a man approached me in a restaurant and said he was sorry to bother me, but his husband was dying of cancer and loved watching the series every single day,’ says Tina Louise.
“It was very, very important. I respect the fact that people like it so much. I understand it myself — when you need a distraction, you need a distraction. When I was bedridden for two and a quarter months [recovering], I needed a distraction. Fortunately, there was a reality show about the elections, which were really heating up. I was grateful for that, for the books I read, and for the people who came to visit.”
‘The writers didn’t want us to leave the Island’
Despite the series’ success, it only lasted three seasons. What happened? According to Tina, it was a management decision.
‘The writers didn’t want us to leave the Island,’ Louise explains. “The show was in the top ten or twenty when it ended. The president [of the television network] was unhappy with the 1967 schedule. He wanted Gunsmoke to come back on the air. So they cancelled our show,‘ she added. ’In syndication, it went on and on and on… and on and on.
‘When it ended, I just went back to what I was doing. And that was more dramatic roles,’ she added.
Tina Louise continued her successful career in both acting and music. In 1974, she appeared in the television series Kojak, and in 1975, she appeared in the film The Stepford Wives. in 1987 in the comedy OC and Stiggs, and in 1992 in the rockabilly satire Johnny Sue, starring Brad Pitt.
Even after reaching retirement age, Tina did not give up her passion. In 2014, she starred in the spiritual drama Tapestry, and other projects became more interesting.
Starting with the book Sunday: A Memoir in 1997, Tina Louise has written several books. Her children’s book When I Grow Up, published in 2007, was special because she donated part of the proceeds to literacy programmes. In addition, Louise has been volunteering at local public schools since 1996.
She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a lifetime member of the Actors Studio. But even though these awards are very dear to her, she sadly watches as many of her colleagues pass away over the years. Tina Louise is the last surviving actress from Gilligan’s Island. In 2020, her former colleague and friend from Gilligan’s Island, Dawn Wells, died of COVID-19.
This is Tina Louise from the television series Gilligan’s Island today.
‘Dawn was a very remarkable person. I want people to remember her as someone who always had a smile on her face,’ Louise said in an interview with the New York Post. ‘There is nothing more important than family, and she was family. She will always be remembered.’
‘We were part of a wonderful show that everyone loves and that has been a great source of comfort, especially in these times.’
Tina Louise was married to the late television talk show host Les Crane for four years. The couple divorced in 1971 and had a daughter, Caprice Crane, who became a producer, screenwriter and writer. Today, Tina has two grandchildren, whom she calls ‘my two beautiful babies.’
The 91-year-old still lives in her hometown of New York City (in the Turtle Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan).
Despite her age, which is hard to believe when you look at her photos, Tina is ready to meet the right man.
‘Numbers aren’t how you look.’
‘I’m open. I’m open. I’m open to life,’ says Louise. ‘Right now, I still don’t go out much. If I go out with a friend, it’s only once every two weeks.’
Meanwhile, in a 2021 interview with the New York Post, she declined to reveal her age.
‘Don’t number me. Who needs that?’ added Tina Louise. ‘Numbers are not how you look and how you live… Buddha said, “Live in the present moment. Wisely and sincerely.”’
If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read about why Little House on the Prairie star Karen Grassl never had children.
Tina Louise was extraordinary in Gilligan’s Island. We can’t believe she’s 91 years old; she still looks so beautiful!
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