Bob Denver & Autism

[bobola]

In 1979, while acting on a Las Vegas stage in a performance of Play It Again, Sam, Bob Denver, beloved as Willy Gilligan, met Dreama Perry, who was cast as his love interest in the performance--a role that soon transferred to real life.

Later that year, Bob and Dreama wed, and in 1984, a son, Colin, was born with severe Autism, a serious Mental Illness affecting 1 in 150 kids born in America today--myself included.

Robert Osbourne Denver was born on January 9, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York and raised from infancy in Brownwood, Texas. As a struggling actor, after graduating college, Bob taught at a private high school just to make ends meet.

In 1958, 23-year-old Bob was cast as Maynard G. Krebs opposite Dwayne Hickman as Dobie on a sitcom pilot adapted from the Max Shulman book The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, adapted for TV by Martin Manulis.

In 1963, soon after Dobie left TV, Bob was cast as Willy Gilligan in a sitcom pilot taped that November, just after John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President, was shot and killed, called Gilligans Island, the pilot of which was filmed entirely on location in Hawaii.

Though the pilot was picked up by United Artists Television for the CBS Television Network & its Fall 1964 schedule, filming after the pilot, not seen until the TBS Television Network aired the pilot in October 1992, moved to CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California, outside the studio lot.

Joining Bob were Alan Hale, Jr. (March 8, 1918 - January 2, 1990), Jim Backus (February 13, 1913 - July 3, 1989), Natalie Schafer (November 5, 1900 - April 10, 1991), Tina Louise (born Tina Blacker on February 11, 1934 in New York City, New York), Russell Johnson (born on November 10, 1924 in Ashley, Pennsylvania) and Dawn Wells (born on October 18, 1938 in Reno, Nevada).

Gilligans Island aired on CBS from September 26, 1964 - April 17, 1967.

The series was renewed for a 4th season by CBS execs until the Network President ordered Gunsmoke be reinstated; as a result, the castaways on Gilligans Island, despite strong ratings, went home--permanently.

Until 1978, that is, when the first of 3 reunion movies, Rescue from Gilligans Island, aired on NBC; 2 more reunion films followed in 1979 and 1981.

Despite the Network President ordering its cancellation, Gilligans Island has lived on, thanks to reruns on such cable networks as TBS & Nickelodeon.

Though he died of Cancer on September 2, 2005 at age 70, Bob Denver lives on thanks to the power of film, videotapes, & DVDs.

In addition to Colin & Dreama, Bob is survived by 3 grown children.

Despite his autism, Colin Denver lives independently in a small house next to mom Dreama, who continues the radio show she & Bob started in early 2005.

The radio station, per bobdenver.com, is a non-profit station, with all proceeds going to the Denver Foundation in the hopes of curing Autism.

[Teebs]

Thank you for the information! I had only recently become aware that Bob and Dreama's son Colin was autistic- I found out through listening to a radio interview between Dreama and Dawn Wells, which you can find on YouTube.

Bob gave up his acting career when Colin was born so that he and Dreama could stay at home and become Colin's full-time carers, something that Bob never really talked about, probably because he was such an intensely private man and also because as Dawn Wells has said, he was not the type to go looking for any kind of sympathy.

By all accounts Bob Denver was a terrific father to all of his children and it's wonderful that Colin is able to live independently, something that was probably made possible for him because he had/has such loving and supportive parents. Bob Denver left us, his fans, with Gilligan and Maynard G. Krebs, but it's said his greatest role in life was as a father and a family man, and for that he will never be forgotten.

[Steve Carras]

Sad coincidence that people think GIlligan himself IS austistic or that Bob was, as the late Jump the Shark once seemed to say, through one of the psoters in the GI entry.

[MrCleveland]

bobola...

I, too have autism. And on April 2nd, there's Autism Awareness Day...now I have what they call PDD-NOS (Persuasive Developmental Disorder/Not Otherwise Specified). And sometimes an autistic person's life is on 2nd gear while the "normal" people are on drive.

Hang in there!

[PartyOfOne]

I don't believe the years mentioned are correct here.
Robert Osbourne Denver was born on January 9, 1935 in New Rochelle, New York and raised from infancy in Brownwood, Texas. As a struggling actor, after graduating college, Bob taught at a private high school just to make ends meet.

[PartyOfOne]

Originally Posted by Steve Carras

Sad coincidence that people think GIlligan himself IS austistic or that Bob was, as the late Jump the Shark once seemed to say, through one of the psoters in the GI entry.

It's not all that far fetched, but of course sitcoms didn't do that sort of thing in the 1960s.