Bob Denver "Gilligan" and "Maynard G. Krebs" has passed away

[ShaniFaye]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Bob Denver, TV's 'Gilligan,' dies at 70

Tuesday, September 6, 2005; Posted: 3:07 p.m. EDT (19:07 GMT)


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island" made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died, his agent confirmed Tuesday. He was 70.

Denver, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year, died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina, according to agent Mike Eisenstadt.

Denver's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."

Denver also played the title character's beatnik pal, Maynard G. Krebs, on TV's "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."

[Charlatan]

I really hope this is never said of me when I die...

"Denver's death was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."


I spent way too much time as a kid watching Gilligan's Island reruns. I just can't believe little buddy was 70 already... he always looked so young.

[silent_jay]

That sucks, Gilligan's Island is one of my favorite shows. RIP Little Buddy

[Psycho Dad]

You can't tell me that you didn't spend at least some time enjoying Gilligan's misadventures in TV Land. RIP

Bob Denver, TV's 'Gilligan,' dies at 70

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Bob Denver, whose portrayal of goofy castaway Gilligan on the 1960s TV show "Gilligan's Island" made him an iconic figure to generations of TV viewers, has died. He was 70.

He died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina of complications from treatment he was receiving for cancer, his agent, Mike Eisenstadt, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

His wife, Dreama, and children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin were with Denver, who also had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year.

"He was my everything and I will love him forever," Dreama Denver said in a statement.

Denver's signature role was Gilligan, but when he took the role in 1964 he was already widely known to TV audiences for another iconic character, Maynard G. Krebs, the bearded beatnik friend of Dwayne Hickman's Dobie in the "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired on CBS from 1959 to 1963.

Krebs, whose only desire was to play the bongos and hang out at coffee houses, would shriek every time the word "work" was mentioned in his presence.

Gilligan, on the other hand, was industrious but inept. And his character was as lovable as he was inept. Viewers embraced the skinny kid in the Buster Brown haircut and white sailor hat. So did the Minnow's skipper, Jonas Grumby, who was played by Alan Hale Jr., and who always referred to his first mate affectionately as "little buddy."

"As silly as it seems to all of us, it has made a difference in a lot of children's lives," Dawn Wells, who played castaway Mary Ann Summers, once said. "Gilligan is a buffoon that makes mistakes and I cannot tell you how many kids come up and say, 'But you loved him anyway.' "

TV critics were less kind, dismissing the show as inane. But after it was canceled by CBS in 1967, it found new audiences over and over in syndicated reruns and reunion films, including 1981's "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island." (It also led to the recent TBS reality series "The Real Gilligan's Island.")

One of the most recent of those films was 2001's "Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History," in which other actors portrayed the original seven-member cast while three of the four surviving original members, including Denver, narrated and reminisced.

"Gilligan's Island" writer-creator Sherwood Schwartz insisted that the show had social meaning along with the laughs: "I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications."

Denver went on to star in other TV series, including "The Good Guys" and "Dusty's Trail," as well as to make numerous appearances in films and TV shows.

But he never escaped the role of Gilligan, so much so that in one of his top 10 lists -- "the top 10 things that will make you stand up and cheer" -- "Late Show" host David Letterman once simply shouted out Denver's name to raucous applause.

"It was the mid-'70s when I realized it wasn't going off the air," Denver told The Associated Press in 2001, noting then that he enjoyed checking eBay each day to keep up on the prices "Gilligan's Island" memorabilia were fetching.

"I certainly didn't set out to have a series rerun forever, but it's not a bad experience at all," he added.

Oddly, while laying tile today in my back hallway, I found myself more than once whistling the theme to Gilligan's Island. I feel 10 years old again every time I see a rerun.

[JumpinJesus]

That's a bummer. I could never ever picture him as an old man. He'll forever be that kid with the goatee from Doby Gillis.

[cj2112]

there goes the star of the greatest tv show ever

[sadistikdreams]

Aw, little buddy.

Man, this sucks. I remember watching hella Gilligan's Island on Nick @ Nite. I love that show.

[World's King]

That was the longest three hour tour in history.

[texxasco]

I hadn't heard.....Too bad. I've caught it a time or two on TV Land... it brings back memories.. When did he pass?

[analog]

His wife's name is... Dreama?

And yeah, I used to love watching the show... as campy and implausible as most of it was, it was good fun.

[ShaniFaye]

I swear, ya'll dont pay any attention

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=94412

[Rodney]

I'm old enough to have seen it when it first came out -- I was ten or so at the time. I liked it well enough, but the continuing popularity mystifies me. It was a fun but stupid comedy that was so silly it was surreal; there were plenty of those around at the time. It only made three years before they cancelled it.

[texxasco]

Originally Posted by ShaniFaye

I swear, ya'll dont pay any attention

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=94412

Uhhhh ok. Thanks...

[uncle phil]

don't any of you remember maynard g. krebs?

[ShaniFaye]

well I dont remember it the first go round....but I have watched it

[uncle phil]

bet none of them remember maynard g. krebs either...

[Psycho Dad]

Originally Posted by ShaniFaye

I swear, ya'll dont pay any attention

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=94412

Oops, didn't see that. I never venture off into Tilted Entertainment.

[paddyjoe]

Originally Posted by uncle phil

don't any of you remember maynard g. krebs?

Yup uncle phil, I do. Maynard and his pal Dobie Gillis.

R.I.P. Maynard

[Fremen]

I remember Maynard G. Krebs from Dobie reruns, Gilligan from Island reruns, and first-run episodes of Bob in Far Out Space Nuts, as Junior. ("Lunch, not launch!")

Rest in peace, Little Buddy.


/pours out coconut milk for another castaway

[ShaniFaye]

(thats why using the view new posts button helps a lot hehehe)

[Johnny Pyro]

I'm smoking a bowl in the honor of Bob Denver. May you live forever in TV Land.

EDIT- Who is Maynard G. Krebs? What is Dobie? A tv show? Maybe it just before my time.

[Bill O'Rights]

In Gilligan’s own memorable words:

“We’ll get off this island yet.”

So he has. And so shall we all.

[maleficent]

Originally Posted by Johnny Pyro

EDIT- Who is Maynard G. Krebs? What is Dobie? A tv show? Maybe it just before my time.

dang blasted young whippersnappers...

dobie gillis - -as in the many loves of dobie gillis.... Maynard G Krebs was his beatnik friend who'd rather play bongos than work -- work was a bad word for him...

Maynard


tuesday Weld

played one of the many loves of Dobie...

[Johnny Pyro]

Oh, okay. I remember him playing that character.