Tina Louise Reveals That She Barely Made Any Money Working on 'Gilligan's Island'

WideOpenCountry ^ | 3/15/25 | Caleb Catlin

[DallasBiff]

You would think a hit show like Gilligan's Island would rake in the dough. Across three seasons, they received a ton of prestige and audiences still love it. The show currently resides at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, impressive for a show that's over 60 years old. However, according to Tina Louise, the legacy of the show doesn't exactly reflect the kind of pay they were getting at the time.

Recently, she spoke with Forbes to go over her illustrious career, particularly her time on Gilligan's Island. There, Tina says that across all 98 episodes, she didn't bring in much money, "like $1,500 an episode," as she puts it. Moreover, the streaming availability and cable reruns doesn't do Louise any favors either. You would think residuals would hold her over once she settled down from an acting career. Instead, it's quite the opposite. ""Nothing! Not a cent," she exclaims

[enumerated]

Good point - I hadn’t thought of it that way.

But in addition to the nice looking plastic surgery that ages badly, I also see plenty of cases where the plastic surgery looks hideous right off the bat.

[Jamestown1630]

There seem to be women who become ‘addicted’ to it; they go too far and expect too much.

I’ve seen a couple of women who appeared to have very successful, minimal surgery; but many who look unnatural.

[enumerated]

My wife is beautiful at 74 but she was an absolute knockout when she was young - she didn’t need makeup or hair curlers or anything. So when she hit about forty, she was so used to being good looking she started coloring her hair and spending more and more time with make-up.. she wanted to get some “work done”.

I talked her out of it and I’m so glad - yeah she looks old - but she looks the way she’s supposed to look. There’s no way to stop aging so it’s better to accept it and age gracefully I think.

I see women go through that awkward phase all the time.. once they let go Amy let the grey hair grow out they actually look better to me.. and I make sure I tell them they look good all the time.

[Jamestown1630]

Some things that come with aging actually compensate and improve us - the gray hair softens the look of wrinkles and sag, for one.

And of course, the wisdom of age adds a lot of beauty, if we’ve lived well :-)

It’s a little sad in some ways, when beautiful women get old; but I’ve always thought that men actually look better as they age.

[minnesota_bound]

#54 Lori Saunders was the prettiest.
Fun fact, she was on a tv show with Bob Denver called “Dusty’s Trail” where she played the Mary Ann character.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1V2SSERycst5fdIDmjOHq9RCiWjURDl7

[DouglasKC]

That is a shocking photo. Looks like a zombie.

[minnesota_bound]

#9 Gilligan’s Island had 98 episodes x the amount below and she made about $1.5 million equivalent.

$1,500 x 98 = $147,000

______________________________

$1500 in 1965 amounts to $15,127.19 today, according to my search.

Pretty good money for basically dressing up and looking nice.

9 posted on 4/8/2025, 2:37:50 PM by Jamestown1630

[TheCipher]

You are starting to make me think Gilligan’s Island wasn’t real LOL !!!

[TheCipher]

Nothing in the story made sense, but that’s why it was funny.

Yeah, I meant to put a smiley face after my comment :-)

[TheCipher]

Nothing in the story made sense, but that’s why it was funny.

Not to mention the Skippers shorts lasted 25 years !!!

[Pilsner]

By and large, entertainers were paid far less back then. More than decade later, Wayne Rogers left M*A*S*H because it was costing him money to take off from his office job to be on a TV Show. He was willing to lose money to be a star, but not to be Alan Alda's sidekick.

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001481/?ref_=mv_close

How to Commit Marriage
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064449/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cdt_t_54