Dawn Wells
Encyclopedia
Dawn Elberta Wells is an American actress known for playing Mary Ann Summers
Mary Ann Summers
Mary Ann Summers is a fictional character in the television sitcom Gilligan's Island which ran on the CBS network from 1964 to 1967, and has run more or less continuously since in reruns.- Role :...

 on the sitcom Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

during its run from 1964 until 1967.

Early life

Wells was born in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

, where she attended Reno High School
Reno High School
Reno High School is a public secondary school in Reno, Nevada that is a part of the Washoe County School District. The school mascot is the Husky, and the school's colors are red and blue. Their teams are known as the "Reno Huskies."-History:...

. She later attended Stephens College
Stephens College
Stephens College is a women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second oldest female educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman turned it into a college,...

 in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...

, where she majored in chemistry. She transferred to the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, where she graduated in 1960 with a degree in theater arts. She was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...

 sorority.

In 1959, Wells was crowned Miss Nevada
Miss Nevada
The Miss Nevada competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Nevada in the Miss America pageant.- Winners :- External links :*...

 and represented her state in the 1960 Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

.

Career

After moving to Hollywood, she began appearing in guest roles in such television series as 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....

, The Cheyenne Show on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...

on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, and Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, before taking on the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

. She reprised her character in the various Gilligan's Island reunion specials, including three reunion movies Rescue from Gilligan's Island
Rescue From Gilligan's Island
Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a two-part television movie that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 TV series Gilligan's Island starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale, Jr. The film first aired on NBC October 14 and October 21, 1978...

, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island is a television movie that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964-1967 TV series Gilligan's Island and the first reunion movie, Rescue From Gilligan's Island, featuring the original cast from the television series with the exception of...

and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island is a made for T.V. movie released in 1981.-Synopsis:The film is a sequel to the TV movie The Castaways on Gilligan's Island. Gilligan and his friends still own and operate the vacation resort The Castaways...

. She also made guest appearances on The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart and Gladys George. The movie was directed by Raoul Walsh, and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on the story "The World Moves On" by Mark Hellinger...

, Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...

, Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...

, 87th Precinct
87th Precinct (TV series)
87th Precinct is an American crime drama starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, and Ron Harper, which aired on NBC on Monday evenings during the 1961–1962 television season.-Synopsis:...

, Surfside 6
Surfside 6
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...

, Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...

, It's a Man's World
It's a Man's World (TV series)
It's a Man's World is a 19-episode comedy/drama television series centered on four young men who live in a houseboat called the Elephant, which is moored at an Ohio River town named Cordella, in Ohio...

, Laramie
Laramie
Laramie may refer to Laramie, Wyoming, or one of the many things named after it.-Entertainment:*The Man from Laramie, a 1955 American western movie directed by Anthony Mann*The Laramie Project, a 2000 play written and directed by Moisés Kaufman...

. Burke's Law
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...

, The Invaders
The Invaders
The Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...

, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....

, The F.B.I.
The F.B.I.
The F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and the characters almost always drove Ford vehicles in the series - indeed, this was a key point of Mad magazine's July 1971 satire of the series .-Synopsis:Produced...

, Vega$
Vega$
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series, was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas...

, The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...

, Alf, Herman's Head
Herman's Head
Herman's Head is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from 1991 to 1994. The series stars William Ragsdale as the titular character, Herman Brooks.-Synopsis:...

Three Sisters
Three Sisters
- Creative works :* Three Sisters , a play by Anton Chekhov** The Three Sisters , an American film production** Three Sisters , a British film production...

, Pastor Greg
Pastor Greg
Pastor Greg is a Christian sitcom, the first Christian television show of this genre. It debuted in 2005, and it is now in its third and final season...

and Roseanne.

Wells had small roles in the early 1960s films Palm Springs Weekend
Palm Springs Weekend
Palm Springs Weekend is a 1963 Warner Bros. bedroom comedy film directed by Norman Taurog. It has elements of the beach party genre and has been called “a sort of Westernized version of Where the Boys Are" by Billboard Magazine...

and The New Interns
The New Interns
The New Interns is a 1964 film directed by John Rich. It stars Michael Callan and Dean Jones.-Cast:*Michael Callan as Dr. Alec Considine*Dean Jones as Dr. Lew Worship*Telly Savalas as Dr. Dominick 'Dom' Riccio...

and later starred with Michael Dante
Michael Dante
Michael Dante is an American award winning actor of television, films and stage and a former professional minor league baseball player....

 in the independent film Winterhawk (1975), playing a Western settler kidnapped by a Native-American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 chief. Other films include The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976, R-rated horror film directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries,...

, Return to Boggy Creek, Lover's Knot, Soulmates, Forever For Now
Forever For Now
Forever for Now is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band April Wine, released in 1977. The album featured a variety of genres including: country and western, Latin, Caribbean, blues, easy listening, and rock....

and Super Sucker
Super Sucker
Super Sucker is a 2003 film featuring Jeff Daniels, Harve Presnell, and Kate Peckham.Filmed in Jackson, Michigan, Daniels and Presnell play Fred Barlow and Winslow Schnaebelt, the heads of two different groups of door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen who are competing for the same territory. Their...

. In the fall of 2011 she began filming Hotel Arthritis, a comedy horror film set for release in 2012.

Following Gilligan's Island, Wells embarked on a very successful theater career that is still going strong to this day. She has appeared in nearly 100 theatrical productions as of July 2009. She spent the majority of the 1970s and 1980s touring in musical theatre productions. She also had a one-woman show she performed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1985.

In the 1990s, she became a spokesperson for Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...

, Cuisinart
Cuisinart
Cuisinart is a brand for small kitchen appliances, especially the food processor of the same name, one of the first to become popular in the United States. It was founded by Carl Sontheimer in 1971, and became a leading brand in the United States and Canada....

, Long John Silver's
Long John Silver's
Long John Silver's, Inc. is a United States-based fast-food restaurant that specializes in seafood. The name and concept were inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's book Treasure Island. Formerly a division of Yum! Brands, Inc., the company was divested to a group of franchisees in 2011.-History:The...

, Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 and 1800collect.

In 1993, Wells published Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook with co-writers Ken Beck & Jim Clark, including a foreword by Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...

.

In 2005, Wells consigned for sale her original gingham
Gingham
Gingham is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarn.The name originates from an adjective in the Malay language, genggang , meaning striped. Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch...

 blouse and shorts ensemble from her signature role. A Beverly Hills auction house, Profiles in History, sold it for $20,700.

In 2008, Wells came to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 to join Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Schwartz
Sherwood Charles Schwartz was an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC...

, the creator of Gilligan's Island for the celebration of Schwartz' entry into the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

.

Personal life

She was married to Larry Rosen, a talent agent, from 1962 to 1967. The couple had no children.

Wells spent summers in her early years in the Teton Valley
Teton River (Idaho)
The Teton River is an tributary of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho in the United States. It drains through the Teton Valley along the west side of the Teton Range along the Idaho-Wyoming border at the eastern end of the Snake River Plain...

 of eastern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, and relocated there in the 1990s.
In Idaho, she runs a successful business, Wishing Wells Collections, making clothing for people with limited mobility. She is the founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute, a not-for-profit (501c3) educational organization with "A vision of education, technical training and economic development in Southeastern Idaho." She organized SpudFest
SpudFest
The SpudFest Family Film and Music Festival was an annual film festival which was established in Driggs, Idaho, U.S.A. in the summer of 2004. Dawn Wells, the original Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island founded the festival as a natural outgrowth of the Idaho Film and Television Institute and Film...

, a regional annual family movie festival, and has been a spokesperson for Idaho Potatoes
Idaho Potato Commission
The Idaho Potato Commission is a self governing agency of the State of Idaho that was established in 1937 as the Idaho Fruit and Vegetable Advertising Commission. It has many responsibilities, but its primary responsibility is to promote the Idaho potato through advertising, public relations,...

.

Wells continues to lend her support to the Denver Foundation, a charity chaired by Dreama Denver, widow of Wells' Gilligan’s Island co-star Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...

. In November 2009, she appeared at the Denver Foundation's Christmas Wish Celebrity Auction, helping to raise funds for the disabled and disadvantaged in West Virginia.

While driving home from her birthday party celebration on October 18, 2007, Wells was observed swerving across the roadway, was found in possession of marijuana and was arrested by Idaho police. Wells plead guilty to one count of reckless driving, was fined and served six months' unsupervised probation. In a statement, Wells admitted swerving, saying she was reaching for her car heater controls. Wells lost a speaking engagement because of the incident. After the fact, she made light of the situation, saying "I think it is so hysterical that people went nuts over it. I am what, now, 102 years old? I get booked for the first time in my life and suddenly I am a drug-sing bum? I have told people the facts, but facts don't interest people or the media. They only trust headlines. The only reason I even cared was because it negatively affected my film festival and film school and my sponsors were concerned. If I did not own a not-for-profit school, I would be on "Saturday Night Live" making fun of it!"

Partial filmography

  • The Everglades
    The Everglades (TV series)
    The Everglades is an American crime-adventure television series that aired in first-run syndication for one season from 1961–62 and in reruns. Ron Hayes starred as Constable Lincoln Vail, a law enforcement officer of the fictional Everglades County Patrol who traveled the Florida Everglades...

    (1961) (part of Piney)
  • The Cheyenne Show (1961) TV episode 102: "Lone Patrol" (Part of Sarah Claypool)
  • Maverick
    Maverick (TV series)
    Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...

    (1961) TV episode 105: "The Deadly Image" (Part of Caprice Rambeau)
  • Bonanza
    Bonanza
    Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

    (1962) TV episode: "The Way Station" (part of Marty Johnson)
  • Palm Springs Weekend
    Palm Springs Weekend
    Palm Springs Weekend is a 1963 Warner Bros. bedroom comedy film directed by Norman Taurog. It has elements of the beach party genre and has been called “a sort of Westernized version of Where the Boys Are" by Billboard Magazine...

    (1963)
  • The New Interns
    The New Interns
    The New Interns is a 1964 film directed by John Rich. It stars Michael Callan and Dean Jones.-Cast:*Michael Callan as Dr. Alec Considine*Dean Jones as Dr. Lew Worship*Telly Savalas as Dr. Dominick 'Dom' Riccio...

    (1964)
  • Gilligan's Island
    Gilligan's Island
    Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...

    (1964–1967)
  • Bonanza
    Bonanza
    Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...

    (1968) TV episode: "The Burning Sky" (part of Moon Holt)
  • Winterhawk (1975)
  • The Town That Dreaded Sundown
    The Town That Dreaded Sundown
    The Town that Dreaded Sundown is a 1976, R-rated horror film directed by Charles B. Pierce. It is based on the Phantom Killer, who murdered five people in the 1940s in the city of Texarkana, Texas, at Spring Lake Park and was never caught. The film is presented similarly to Unsolved Mysteries,...

    (1976)
  • Return to Boggy Creek (1977)
  • Rescue from Gilligan's Island
    Rescue From Gilligan's Island
    Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a two-part television movie that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 TV series Gilligan's Island starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale, Jr. The film first aired on NBC October 14 and October 21, 1978...

    (1978)
  • The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
    The Castaways on Gilligan's Island
    The Castaways on Gilligan's Island is a television movie that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964-1967 TV series Gilligan's Island and the first reunion movie, Rescue From Gilligan's Island, featuring the original cast from the television series with the exception of...

    (1979)
  • High School U.S.A.
    High School U.S.A.
    "High School U.S.A." is also the title of the biggest pop hit by Tommy Facenda.High School U.S.A. is a 1983 television movie directed by Rodney Amateau. The film originally aired on NBC on October 16, 1983 and features an ensemble cast including Michael J. Fox, Anthony Edwards, and Crispin...

    (1983)
  • ALF
    ALF (TV series)
    ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...

    (1987) TV episode: "Somewhere Over the Rerun. aka. The Ballad of Gilligan's Island" (part of Mary Ann)
  • The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
  • Soulmates (1992)
  • Space Ghost Coast to Coast
    Space Ghost Coast to Coast
    Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American animated parody talk show hosted by the 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. The show premiered on April 15, 1994 on Cartoon Network...

    (1994) one episode: herself
  • Lover's Knot (1996)
  • Super Sucker
    Super Sucker
    Super Sucker is a 2003 film featuring Jeff Daniels, Harve Presnell, and Kate Peckham.Filmed in Jackson, Michigan, Daniels and Presnell play Fred Barlow and Winslow Schnaebelt, the heads of two different groups of door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen who are competing for the same territory. Their...

    (2002)
  • Forever for Now (2004)
  • Cyber Meltdown (2005)

External links

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