Stars Who Turned Down TV Roles
7/16/12



Jayne Mansfield as Ginger Grant on "Gilligan's Island"


http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e10/JamesGrec/slide_237944_1230336_free-1.jpg


It's been said that the role of Ginger Grant on "Gilligan's Island" was created for actress Jayne Mansfield, but she reportedly turned down the part, which went to Tina Louise.

Sadly, Mansfield was killed in a car accident at the age of 34 in 1967, which was coincidentally the last year the show was on the air.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/stars-who-turned-down-tv-roles-_n_1677019.html?

:eek: The guys wouldn't have even tried to get off the island. :lol:

Tina Louise defined the role, but I must say, Mansfield would have been awesome in it, too.

It would have been interesting to see how the censors dealt with her assets.

Woulda saved Tina Louise an image problem of typecasting.

Stars Who Turned Down TV Roles
7/16/12



Jayne Mansfield as Ginger Grant on "Gilligan's Island"


http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e10/JamesGrec/slide_237944_1230336_free-1.jpg


It's been said that the role of Ginger Grant on "Gilligan's Island" was created for actress Jayne Mansfield, but she reportedly turned down the part, which went to Tina Louise.

Sadly, Mansfield was killed in a car accident at the age of 34 in 1967, which was coincidentally the last year the show was on the air.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/stars-who-turned-down-tv-roles-_n_1677019.html?


It may have been said that it was created for Mansfield but it wasn't. Tina said in an interview that she was asked to play a Lucille Ball/ Marilyn Monroe character. She never mentioned Mansfield. To be honest, I think Tina did it better than Mansfield would have.

I don't know if it's true that Jayne Mansfield was the first choice for Ginger but it is true that Jerry Van Dyke was the first choice to play Gilligan. He turned down the part because he thought "My Mother the Car " would be a much better and longer running show. (He was wrong!) It's also true that Carroll O"Conner auditioned for the part of the Skipper but Sherwood Schwartz didn't think he was right for the part.

I'd always heard that Jerry Van Dyke turned it down because he read the pilot script and called it "the worst piece of crap I ever read!!" and they didn't use Carol O'Conner because they thought people would feel sorry for Gillagin when the skipper yelled at him.

But with Jayne Mansfield, they would've had a way to float to safety.