Friday, February 01, 2013 10:46 AM
Mary Anne usually wins out over Ginger at about four-to-one because she is genuine. The reason is not the characters. Mary Anne (Dawn Wells) is real.
Born in Reno, Nevada, she attended Reno High School and then majored in Chemistry (Professor was a high school science teacher) at Stephens College. She transferred to University of Washington in Seatle where she graduated with a degree in Theater Arts and Design.
She spent summers in her early years in the Teton Valley of eastern Idaho and relocated there in the 1990s.
She was Miss Nevada in 1959, representing the state in the 1960 Miss America contest.
Her competition for the role of Mary Anne included Raquel Welch and Patricia Ann Priest.
After Gilligan's Island, she began a successful theater career that is still going on.
She is also runs a successful business, "Wishing Wells Collections" that makes clothing for people with limited mobility. She is the founder of the Idaho Film and Theater Institute, a not-for-profit eduational organization with "a vision of education, technical training, and economic development in Southeastern Idaho.
She was #50 in TV Guide's "Fifty Sexiest Stars of All Times" (men and women). Ginger (Tina Louise) did not make the list.
Married from 1962 to 1967, she is single.
Hope this is good enough!