Celebrity Birthday: The Skipper From Gilligan’s Island

Is it your birthday today? Happy birthday! Here's who you're celebrating your birthday with~

From Person of Interest, Cameron Manheim is celebrating a birthday. Remember Susan Clark? She was Emmanuel Lewis' mom on Webster. In real life she was married to the late Alex Karras, Mongo from Blazing Saddles. Yeah, she's celebrating a birthday. James Van Der Beek from Dawson's Creek is 39. Freddie Prince, Jr. is 40. Micky Dolenz is 71. Born on this date in 1921, Alan Hale, Jr., The Skipper from Gilligan's Island!

Comedian Josh Gad, who "played" Olaf in Frozen is supposedly writing and going to be starring in a new version of Gilligan's Island.

I grew up watching Gilligan's Island reruns while doing my homework after school. Aside from the Adam West Batman television series, it's probably one of my favorite shows.

The two surviving cast members of the series are Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann, and Tina Louise, who played "the movie star", Ginger Grant. Originally, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson, The Professor, were billed as "and the rest". That's how they exchanged Christmas gifts with each other during the first season the show was on the air. After the show was cancelled, Tina Louise never came back for any of the reunion films. She still does not want to be known as Ginger from Gilligan's Island.

Did you know that Alan Hale loved playing The Skipper so much that even after the show was cancelled he would still appear in character wearing his signature cap! He had to hitchhike from the movie set he was on to audition for the part. Series creator Sherwood Schwartz said that he was updating Laurel and Hardy in The Skipper and Gilligan. Carroll O'Connor, who later played Archie Bunker on All in the Family, auditioned for the role. Schwartz said he picked Hale, because while he could get angry at Gilligan, he never was mean to him. Hale and Bob Denver had perfect chemistry together. Schwartz was going for "society in microcosm with the sitcom. He was also putting together the Seven Deadly Virtues. The Skipper was supposed to be Wrath.

So, there are some Fun Facts about The Skipper!