Dawn Wells played Mary Ann Summers in the ‘60s sitcom Gilligan’s Island, which lasted only three seasons, and though it was her most famous role, her pay was significantly low. Her co-stars Bob Denver, Tina Louise, and Jim Backus got paid much higher, as they were considered the show’s stars.
This unfair remuneration was asides the insult to Dawn’s importance to the show by not mentioning her in the credits in season one. Her co-star Russell John threatened against Tina’s contract requirement to be named last, and the late actress was finally mentioned as Mary Ann in season two’s credit.
What was Dawn Wells’s paycheck for ‘Gilligan’s Island’?
While discussing with Jim Clash for Forbes, Dawn addressed the misconception that fame equaled wealth, using her experience as an instance. Though popular, Dawn was earning as low as $750 a week for playing Mary Ann, which in today’s amount is about $390,000 per year—an income well above average.
Although Dawn’s paycheck seemed impressive, it was peanuts compared to how many millions of dollars the classic raked in. Producer Sherwood Schwartz reportedly made up to $90 million on just re-runs. Dawn did not mind much, but she deserved better in retrospect.
After ‘Gilligan’s Island’
Gilligan’s Island’s success meant more specials, including a cartoon spinoff, Gilligan’s Planet, and reunion movies Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island— in all of which Dawn reprised her role as Mary Ann.
She leveraged her character for more roles, appearing in the “Somewhere Over the Rerun” episode of ALF and Baywatch’s “Now Sit Right Back and You’ll Hear a Tale” in 1992. She also released a cookbook titled Mary Ann’s Gilligan’s Island Cookbook and What Would Mary Ann Do? A Guide to Life. Dawn passed away from COVID-19 in December at the age of 82.