Most every kid, at least the male ones, who grew up in the 60s or early 70s fell into one of two groups. You were either hot for Ginger or Mary Ann. Variety is reporting that Dawn Wells, who played the wholesome Kansas farm girl who wore shorts shorter than Daisy Duke ever would, died today at age 82.
When we chatted on air with Dawn a few years ago, she seemed both flustered and flattered when I introduced her (correctly, may I add) as “The woman who launched a million boners”.
Wells was Miss Nevada in the 1959 Miss America pageant. She started her acting career in 1961 by appearing on such series as Bonanza, Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. She beat out 350 actresses for the role of Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan’s Island, which followed the lives of seven castaways attempting to live on an island after their ship wrecked during a three hour tour.
Gilligan’s Island was only on the air from 1964 to 1967 but found a second life in syndication that continues to this day. After the series Wells stayed active, eventually appearing in over 150 series, some movies and on Broadway.
“If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d be in news. I think I’d like to be Diane Sawyer. I think I’d like to be Lucy Liu, or whatever it is who travels all over the world. Now, we have CNN and stuff, we didn’t have that when I was growing up. I’m a news junkie to begin with. I think I would like something like that. I would like something everyday where it’s different and you’re in tune with the world. I think I would like to do that.”
[Variety]
