Gilligan's Island star had a low opinion of the classic sitcom when they starred in it. In fact, they thought the show was going to get canceled almost immediately.
Tina Louise played Ginger on Gilligan's Island. The character had a larger-than-life attitude, so did the actor herself. Louise said that when she joined the show, she thought it would almost immediately be canceled. When the show lasted for three seasons, Louise felt it never was going to end.
"I thought it was going to just last six months, but it seemed to go on forever," Louise confessed via Closer. The actor recently got candid about her role on the show. She said that she didn't want to do Gilligan's Island. However, producers on the show pressured her into the role when they couldn't find the right actor.
"I had just become a member of the Actor's Studio, and I didn't really want to do it, but they weren't happy with the person who did the pilot, so I was just asked to do it," Louise shared during the appearance. "I was in a Broadway show at the time with Carol Burnett, and I was asked to do this."
'Gilligan's Island' Star Weighs In
Her friend convinced her to take on the role. So, Louise ended up joining the sitcom, and the rest is history.
"I was encouraged by a friend who told me it would only last six months and then I could go back to what I had been training for," Tina explained.
However, even the creators admitted that Louise was a bit underwhelmed by her part. The actor thought that she would get a larger role on the show with more weight than she ended up having.
"She thought she'd be more of the central character," Hope Schwartz Juber, daughter of series creator Sherwood Schwartz, told the outlet. "She was disappointed, but she was brilliant in the part."
"The cast never dreamed it would go on and on," Dreama Denver, Bob's widow, said. "Bob was very humbled by that."
So it makes sense that Louise ended up skipping out on several of the Gilligan's Island reunion films.
