Dawn Wells, who gained fame as Mary Ann on 'Gilligan's Island,' passes at 82

I saddened to learn that actress Dawn Wells passed away today from COVID-19. I, like many people of my generation, fell in love with Wells during her run as Marry Ann Summers (or simply Marry Ann) on the iconic 60s sitcom Gilligan's Island.

"Mary Ann has been such a big part of my life these past 40 years, it's really impossible to get away from it. But why would I want to? Everywhere in the world that I go I am greeted with love. Some kids who watched the show back then are still watching, but with their grandchildren now. That is a really wonderful thing! As an actress I have succeeded, I created a character that meant something to some people and it has lasted. So I refuse to ignore it and run away from it." - Dawn Wells

Bio: A wholesome beauty from Reno, Nevada, Dawn Wells was on her way to becoming a ballerina, but bad knees prevented her from realizing the dream. Despite this, she did become Miss Nevada and was in the 1960 Miss America pageant. Wells majored in drama during her collegiate years (she was originally going to study chemistry) and after graduation moved to Hollywood and got parts in several popular television series. Wells got the part of Mary Ann Summers in "Gilligan's Island" (1964), after CBS decided not to go with Nancy McCarthy (who played Bunny, the forerunner to Mary Ann). After "Gilligan" ended its three-year tour, Wells found work in the theatre and a few movies, but mostly talk shows that emphasized reunion themes. Lately, she has been in a popular commercial for Western Union, capitalizing on her Mary Ann character. - IMDB

Here is her obituary from her hometown Reno newspaper:

Gilligan’s Island star and Reno native Dawn Wells died Wednesday, Dec. 30 in Los Angeles due to complications from COVID-19. She was 82.

Wells died at 7:30 a.m., representative Harlan Boll reported. He told USA Today in an email that she “passed peacefully … in no pain.”

Wells is best known for her role as Mary Ann in the sitcom "Gilligan’s Island." The show aired from 1964 to 1967.

Wells was a fourth-generation Nevadan born in Reno on Oct. 18, 1938. She graduated with honors from Reno High School.

She attended the all-women’s Stephens College in Missouri, where she originally planned to become a pediatric surgeon. But, “I took a theater course and my professor said I was so good that I should major in it,” she said in a 2014 interview in the RGJ.

She transferred to the University of Washington in Seattle to major in theater, and in 1959, she ran for Miss Nevada and won.

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