RIP Russell Johnson (the professor on Gilligan's Island)

dawn wells facebook page ^ | january 16, 2014 | dawn wells

[lowbridge]

Dawn Wells has posted on her facebook page that Russell Johnson passed away this morning.

[Steely Tom]

That's fantastic! Thank you so much!

Technical note:

At about 37 seconds into that video, there's a scene where Bob Denver and Dawn Wells are doing some sort of send-up of The Avengers. The camera does a little zoom-in at that point, but it's not a zoom! You can tell because of the slight vibration in the scene as the camera moves in.

That's a "dolly shot!" They must not have had zoom lenses at that point, or (more likely) their budget wasn't sufficient to rent one. So they physically moved the camera to do the zoom, and the cameraman kept it in perfect focus as they did so! No autofocus, no computers, nothing like that. Just pure skill and craftsmanship.

Beautiful video. Thanks again.

[jiggyboy]

He was also in an episode of The Twilight Zone. He invented a time machine or something but couldn’t prevent Lincoln’s assassination or the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

[NFHale]

And there’s a version of “Stairway To Heaven” too, believe it or not with those lyrics put in...

[TheConservativeParty]

There is a picture of Dawn with Sandra Bullock and a coconut cream pie if you look far enough on the facebook page. Lots of neat pictures. She sure has aged wonderfully.

[ETL]

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Why couldn’t he fix the hole in the Minnow?

They tried. Season 1 Episode 8.

Gilligan discovers several trees that produce glue, and the Professor uses it as solution to patch up the minnow and escape the island. Unfortunately, the glue turns out to be only temporary. The castaways find this out all too late and the Minnow breaks apart into a thousand pieces.

[Autonomous User]

Not Cougar...Puma!

[ResponseAbility]

****RIP. The professor could make a nuclear reactor out of a coconut. Why couldn’t he fix the hole in the Minnow? Why did the Howells bring such a large wardrobe with them a a three hour cruise?****

And why was the island named after Gilligan?

[NFHale]

Candle light suited her better...

[NFHale]

See Post #76...

[ETL]

OK, I’ve got a tough one for you. What was the professor’s actual name? I had no idea. I just stumbled on it looking for other info.

[AU72]

If they remade Gilligan’s Island today you would have to cast the Professor as gay, Gilligan african-american, Mary-Ann as a feminazi etc.

[midnightcat]

Oh my! Losing so much weight when you’re older just causes the scarecrow effect! What a shame.

[wally_bert]

I vaguely remember that episode now that you mention it. Bringing TZ up, I think he was in an episode of Thriller that runs on ME-TV.

[ETL]

[driftdiver]

She is sooo cute its almost painful.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

When I was young, the questions was Mary Ann or Ginger. Now that I’m an old fart, I have to say... That Mrs. Howell doesn’t look too bad there herself, now does she?

I have to chuckle at that as I, being female, knew I had reached "maturity" when while watching a rerun of Leave It To Beaver, I decided that Hugh Beaumont was starting to look good to me. As a youngster, I had a crush on Wally.

[Nowhere Man]

Damn and they just showed the episode yesterday where they first got stranded and the Skipper thought the island was infested with head hunters..RIP Professor

I saw that too, it was funny. BTW, saw the one where this native king wanted to take Gillian (dressed in drag) to be his wife. IIRC, the king was played by the same actor who played Cyrano Jones in Star Trek (with the tribbles) and the Giant Carrot Guy (Tybo) in Lost in Space. RIP Professor.

[ssaftler]

Ginger? Or Mary Ann?

No contest, Mary Ann, now and forever!

Marsha? Or Jan?

"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" was too high maintenance, I was a Jan man.

[Steely Tom]

I Ms. Wells’ smile is as pretty as Vivien Leigh’s.

And, unlike Scarlett, Mary Ann is psychologically together.