The 5 Best Guest Stars on Gilligan’s Island, Ranked

For three seasons, from 1964 to 1967, Sherwood Schwartz’s “Gilligan’s Island” delighted undemanding viewers with the exploits of seven castaways stranded on an unexplored island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It was a sitcom that the whole family could enjoy (although some parents might have been hesitant to approve of such tropical slapstick), although it didn’t really find its place in popular culture until it moved into syndication. When “Gilligan’s Island” was able to air five times a week, it became a favorite of couch potatoes; Suddenly, people were generating wild theories about the show’s underlying themes and, through sheer repetition, memorizing the plots of entire episodes.

After stumbling through its pilot (which was missing several key cast members), the show quickly found its formulaic groove thanks in large part to its ensemble’s goofy chemistry. But while they were a perfect fit, Schwartz and his writers realized early on that their core seven couldn’t contain every episode, at least not if they wanted to make it to a second season. A bit of variety was needed, which meant the guest stars had to find their way to the island. If you ask how the show could do this without mocking a key element of its premise (that the castaways can’t leave the island), you’re violating the silly spirit of the comedy. The writers put minimal effort into explaining the comings and goings of the guest stars, and viewers happily accepted it.

Ultimately, one of the most entertaining aspects of “Gilligan’s Island” was guest stars, and for a hopelessly ridiculous series, Schwartz managed to get some pretty respectable names to stop by from time to time. But which appearances do we enjoy the most?

Yes, Mr. Warmth himself, the greatest insult comedian who ever lived and Frank Sinatra’s personal court jester, lent his barbed talents to Schwartz’s sitcom. In the season 3 episode titled “The Kidnapper”, Don Rickles goes against type as the main character, who initially kidnaps the women on the island for ransom. When the castaways finally manage to capture him, they let the smooth criminal conquer them. Your reward? He steals their wallets and some of their personal belongings. Rickles is actually playing a character in this episode, so don’t expect a lot of one-liners. He colors within the lines and does a good job (not that this should be surprising; he did superb dramatic work in films like “Run Silent, Run Deep” and “Casino”). Unfortunately, Rickles evidently made a lifelong enemy in Russell Johnson, aka The Professor, who hated working with the comic. Considering Rickles was considered a real-life sweetheart, this probably says more about Johnson than it does about Mr. Warmth.

Schwartz had no idea he was making it big in casting when he landed 13-year-old Kurt Russell to play a young orphan in the Season 1 episode “Jungle Boy.” Russell had already done some television before appearing on “Gilligan’s Island,” and had also made a bratty impact on the big screen as a kid who kicks Elvis Presley in the shin in “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” but was still largely unknown to television viewers at the time. Russell’s character can’t speak English (he can only parrot words to castaways), but he does know the location of a natural gas mine on the island. This discovery leads the Professor to build a hot air balloon that will take one of the castaways back to civilization, where they can summon a rescue party. Unfortunately, Jungle Boy ends up floating in the balloon. Two years later, Russell would appear in his first Disney film, thus beginning a career that is still brewing today.

“Gilligan’s Island” purists might object to this entry because, to date, no one has been able to confirm that Stockard Channing appeared as a female gorilla in the episode “Diamonds Are an Ape’s Best Friend.” All anyone would have to do is ask, but evidently no one has dared broach the subject with the Tony- and Emmy-winning actor (who is probably best known for her portrayal of Betty Rizzo in the big-screen adaptation of “Grease”). If Channing is really inside that suit, he plays an ape who inadvertently rescues Gilligan from the clutches of a male ape. What does the ape want with Gilligan? Well, he accidentally soaked himself in Mrs. Howell’s perfume, which is something of an aphrodisiac for the great Harry. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, Gilligan came dangerously close to sharing a fate with Clarence Beeks from “Trading Places.”

The Chutzpah King was an Emmy-winning TV star when he deigned to be stranded for an episode of “Gilligan’s Island.” If you’re wondering why a name as big as Phil Silvers would appear on a show with no Emmy aspirations, it’s as simple as the fact that his production company, Gladasaya, financed the show. Silvers plays the main character in the season 3 episode “The Producer” and, unlike Rickles, plays a lot of writing. When Silvers crashes on the island, the castaways hope to travel back to civilization in their rescue plane. Unfortunately, the jerk has to go piss off Ginger, whose request to appear in the producer’s next movie is cruelly rejected. The castaways plan to win over the producer on Ginger’s behalf by putting together a musical version of “Hamlet.” Their efforts are in vain, as the producer flies away without them and, to make matters worse, steals their idea for their next film.

Was there any doubt that these wood legends would top the list? In the 1981 television movie “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island,” the basketball team’s plane crashes on the island, leaving them stranded in the jungle. They are eventually found and offered accommodation at The Castaways, the resort run by the enterprising main characters who are no longer lost. The film’s plot centers on the clandestine efforts of a wealthy businessman (Martin Landau) to seize the island from the castaways and mine the valuable (and rather fictional) supreme mineral for his considerable financial profits. The only way to stop him is to play a winner-take-all basketball game, which would seem to be overwhelmingly in favor of the castaways thanks to their superstar guests, but they soon discover that the businessman has created basketball-playing robots that They are in every way the same as the Globetrotters. However, in the end, the team figures out how to defeat the robots and The Castaways remain in the hands of our heroes.