Gilligan's Island/Characters

This page is for the seven stranded castaways on Gilligan's Island.

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Castaway Tropes

• Everyone Meets Everyone
• Genre Blindness
• Spanner in the Works: Mostly Gilligan, but not always.
• True Companions: Why don't they Just Eat Gilligan? Simple. Because they love him.

Willy 'Little Buddy' Gilligan

With Gilligan...

The first mate on the Minnow. His defining personality trait is his stupidity, which often ruins the castaways' plans to get off the island. However, he also tends to inadvertently solve many of the problems the castaways face.

• Achievements in Ignorance
• The Ditz
• The Ego
• The Fool
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With the Skipper
• Limited Wardrobe
• The Millstone
• Nice Hat
• Number Two
• Only One Name: Sherwood Schwartz said his first name was Willie, but all people called him was Gilligan, even when a radio announcer, who even called the skipper and professor by their rarely used real names, just called him Gilligan in the pilot.
• Skinny
• Those Two Guys: With the Skipper

Captain Jonas Grumby (The Skipper)

...the Skipper, too...

The captain of the Minnow who spent some time in the Navy. A Running Gag in the series is him losing his temper at Gilligan and hitting him with his hat. Despite this, he deeply cares for his "little buddy."

• Big Eater
• Big Fun
• Boisterous Bruiser
• The Captain
• Dope Slap: To Gilligan, every time he screws up or insults him.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
• Fat
• The Good Captain
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Gilligan
• I Am Big Boned
• The Id
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Limited Wardrobe
• Nice Hat
• Standardized Leader
• Those Two Guys: With Gilligan

Mr. Thurston Howell III

...the millionaire...

A wealthy businessman. His wealth at times makes him snooty and unempathetic. However, he does come to care for his fellow castaways and at one point he writes them into his will. A Running Gag is his hatred for "Yale men."

• American Accents: Prep
• Fiction 500
• Gold Fever
• Greed
• Hollywood New England: His depiction is typically that of a stereotypical upper-crust Bostonian.
• Idle Rich
• Ivy League for Everyone: He graduated from Harvard and won't let you forget it. His standard insult toward somebody he disapproves of is to call them a "Yale man".
• Large Ham: Even in a cast full of these, he stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.
• Money Fetish
• Nice Hat: Many, usually his brimmed-straw hat.
• Preppy Name
• Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money
• Unlimited Wardrobe
• Upper Class Wit

Mrs. Eunice Wentworth "Lovey" Howell

...and his wife...

Thurston's socialite wife. Like her husband, her wealth makes her a bit naive and out-of-touch with those poorer than her. However, she sometimes acts as the castaways' mother-figure.

• Blonde
• Fiction 500
• Idle Rich
• Mid-Atlantic Accent: The default "Rich American" accent (a la FDR) well into the 1960s.
• Nice Hat: Ones that go with her Unlimited Wardrobe.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Lovey, to her husband Thurston
  • Last-Name Basis: To everyone else she's known as Mrs. Howell.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense
• Spoiled Sweet
• The Three Faces of Eve: The Wife/Motherly-figure
• Unlimited Wardrobe
• Upper Class Wit

Ginger Grant

...the movie star...

Often uses her sex appeal to charm men into giving her what she wants.

• Actors
• Affectionate Parody: Of Hollywood starlets, especially Marilyn Monroe
• Girly Girl
• Redhead
• Ms. Fanservice
• Show Some Leg
• The Three Faces of Eve: The Seductress
• Unlimited Wardrobe
• Veronica

Roy Hinkley (The Professor)

...the professor, and...

His numerous degrees allow him to do anything from building Bamboo Technology to predicting the weather to translating the languages of native tribes. However, he can also be arrogant, especially when contrasted with other more superstitious castaways.

• And the Rest: One half of "...and the rest" in the first season credits.
• Asexuality: The one time Ginger tried her sexual wiles on him he was completely immune. Also was oblivious to the charms of a character played by Zsa Zsa Gabor.
  • May be a case of Single-Target Sexuality since, in the beauty pageant episode, he argues with the other men about which of the island's women is the most desirable. He alone chose Mary Ann.
• Bag of Holding
• Bamboo Technology: The undisputed freaking master.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"
• Great Big Book of Everything
• Hot Scientist
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Insufferable Genius
• Limited Wardrobe
• MacGyvering: Can you make a car out of sticks?
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist
• The Professor
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
• The Superego

Mary Ann Summers

...Mary Ann...

A sweet young girl from Kansas. She takes care of the cooking and cleaning.

• And the Rest: One half of "...and the rest" in the first season credits.
• Betty
• Brunette
• Farm Girl
• Feminine Women Can Cook
• Girlish Pigtails
• The Three Faces of Eve: The Virgin
• Tomboy
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Though not as bad as the Howells and Ginger.

...heeeere on Gilligan's Isle!