Dawn Wells - Career

Career

After moving to Hollywood, she began appearing in guest roles in such television series as 77 Sunset Strip, The Cheyenne Show on ABC, Maverick on ABC, and Bonanza on NBC, before taking on the role of Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. She reprised her character in the various Gilligan's Island reunion specials, including three reunion movies Rescue from Gilligan's Island, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.

She also made guest appearances on TV shows including The Roaring Twenties, Wagon Train, Tales of Wells Fargo, 87th Precinct, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, It's a Man's World, Laramie. Burke's Law, The Invaders, The Wild Wild West, The F.B.I., Vega$, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, ALF, Herman's Head, Three Sisters, Pastor Greg and Roseanne.

Wells had small roles in the early 1960s films Palm Springs Weekend and The New Interns and later starred with Michael Dante in the independent film Winterhawk (1975), playing a Western settler kidnapped by a Native-American chief. Other films include The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Return to Boggy Creek, Lover's Knot, Soulmates, Forever For Now and Super Sucker. 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 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 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1985.

In the 1990s, she became a spokesperson for Western Union, Cuisinart, Long John Silver's, Coca-Cola 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.

In 2005, Wells consigned for sale her original gingham 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 to join Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of Gilligan's Island for the celebration of Schwartz' entry into the Hollywood Walk of Fame.