thursday, december 7, 1978
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page 7
Gilligan 9 identity remains with Denver
By Kent Warneke
Bob Denver has done many things in
his illustrious acting career, appeared on
stage at dinner theatres and community
playhouses, starred in television series and
movies and has also lent his voice to Satur
day morning cartoons.
But for a good portion of today's
population, Bob Denver is Gilligan, the
starring role in the TV series Gilligan 's
Island, a humorous character of indearing
ineptitude stranded on a South Sea island.
However, going past his public appear
ance, Bob Denver is also a person with an
ever-present, innocent sense of humor
very easy to talk with and down-to-earth.
Combined with his wife of two years,
Dreama Peery, they make a couple that
any dinner theatre or community play
house would be thankful to have grace
their steps.
The Denvers were in Lincoln this last
f f
Bob Denver
Photo by Bob Pearson
week to star in the Lincoln Community
Playhouse's production of The Button
along with Lincoln it es Don O'Neill and
Shelley Lahman.
Born in New Rochelle, N.Y., Denver
began studying, drama in his sophomore
year at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
After graduating from college and working
as a teacher and in the postal service, he
made a screen test for the Dobie Gillis
show which he was picked to play the per;
verbial beatnik, Maynard C. Krebs. So
began the acting career for Denver.
"Dobie Gillis ran for four years and
then I got the part in Gilligan's Island
which ran for three years," Denver said,
"Immediately after that I was in a series
called The Good Guys where I played a
guy named Rufus Sutterworth, but that
show didn't go anywhere, it was like
people didn't even know it existed."
'Gilligan of the West'
"I also did a TV show called Dusty 's
Trail with Forrest Tucker, a Gilligan of the
west type of show, that was really hard
work," Denver said, "We would do two
shows a week and the horses and the
wagons and everything would continually
get in the way and after 12 episodes, the
whole cast and crew was just too tired to
move."
"Dusty 's Trail was then made into a
movie for Denver by combining four of the
TV episodes, which was unique in its
structure.
"Instead of your regular movie building
up from the beginning up until the end,
this was like four complete movies. One
episode would get over with and the pro
ducer would stick in some film of the
wagon's going over a hill and then we'd
begin another whole new show," Denver
said.
"I went to see the movie with about
500 kids, it really was a lot of fun, and I
enjoyed-it," Denver said. "I also was part
of 15 cartoons called the Far Out Space
Nuts with monsters and the whole bit
shown on Saturday mornings. I did that en
tirely for kids."
But Gilligan's Island is still the show
that Denver is recognized for, a show that
can probably be seen more of ten now than
when it was a new series back in 1963.
"My wife and I were in Charlotte, N.C.
and seven different Gilligan shows on diff
erent stations were on in one afternoon be
tween 3 and 6 p jn.," Denver said.
The cast and set of Gilligan 's Island was
a mixture of good friends and a lot of fun.
"Gilligan 's Island was basically a lot of
fun and I had a good time doing it. We
always finished production on time and we
had the same great crew from the beginn
ing so everything went well," Denver said.
Great parties
"Besides, we had a great stage set-up
with all tha : sand and huts, we had really
great parties. In all the different huts we'd
set up bars and at night it would look just
like moonlight shining over the sand,"
Denver said.
A sequel was made to the original
Gilligan's Island series lecently where
Gilligan and the rest of the castaways were
rescued, but then were returned to the
island after finding out that civilization
wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
"The people at NBC kept telling us year
after year that this would be the year that
they would do the sequel since we had to
quit production without showing what
finally happened to us," Denver said,
"Well, finally the sequel was made and it
got great ratings."
"It looks like now there's a good possi
bility for a new one-hour series on NBC
with the original cast of Gilligan 's Island.
We would be rescued from the island and
all go to Hawaii where the Howells would
build a hotel in the shape of the huts and
we lived on the island and we would all
work wiih him," Denver said.
"Even if that doesn't work out, Dreama
and I will probably do a TV series pilot in
the fall, there's a lot of good, funny
material around," Denver said. "We recent
ly got through with a Love Beat two-hour
episode that was more of a vacation than
work."
"For the two-hour episode, they took
us on an eleven-day cruise to Acapulco and
we couldn't even call it working," Denver
said. "When the cruise was over, we told
the producers that when the next two-hour
episode came along, we'd be more than
ready to take part."
Met on stage
Dreama Peery has been an actress for 10
years and it was on a stage that the two
met.
"We had both been on the road for
quiet a few years and it's a wonder we
didn't run into each other before that,"
Peery said. "Now we always work together
and it works out great."
"In fact probably our favorite play, The
Owl and the Pussycat is one in which it's
just the two of us performing, but it's also
one of the most demanding plays," Peery
said.
Denver and Peery have recently given up
any sign of a permanent address and most
of their possessions in favor of being on the
road in the theatre.
"Homes are really a headache because
with our schedules we wouldn't be able to
live there very much, so we'd end up rent
ing out, which is a hassle," Denver said.
"We just like a simple life style where we
can work in theatres and then be able to
take time off."
"Most of our work now is in dinner
theatres on six -week engagements and then
when that's up we can either work some
place else or take a vacation," Denver said.
"And we like working in theatres. We
can do 35 or 40 performances and the play
will be different every night even through
the final performance and we take enough
breaks in engagements to avoid plays
getting repititious," Denver said, "And we
like working with people right in front of
you."
daytime
MORNING
5:30 O WHAT'S NEW
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fj FARM REPORT (FRI.) Answer
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6:15 O UNO SCENE (WED.)
6:30 t BOZO
HO COUNTRY DAY
CJ SUNRISE SEMESTER
O VARIOUS PROGRAMMING
6:45 Kg) A.M. WEATHER
7:00 (JO ARCHIES
UU TODAY
Q GOOD MORNING
ERICA
O CBS NEWS
OQ) MORNING SH
SESAME STREET
7:30 O FUNTSTONES
CJ POPEYE AND PORKY
6:00 f POPEYE
g CD CAPTAIN KANGAROO
EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMMING (UNTIL 12:00)
6:30 f) OUR GANG
J GROOVY GHOUUES
6:00 U TOO CLUB
f CONVERSATIONS
CJ ALL MY CHILDREN
f J CARD SHARKS
O ALL IN THE FAMILY
U PHIL DONAHUE SHOW
0309 ROMPER ROOM
6:30 QQ JEOPARDY
SI 03 09 DECEMBER
AGAZINE (THUR.) Price Is
Right (EXC.THUR.)
O BEWITCHED
10:00 Of) HIGH ROLLERS
O HAPPY DAYS
Q HAPPY DAYS (EXC.FRI.)
Martha's Kitchen (FRI )
O FAMILY AFFAIR
EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMMING (UNTIL 12:00)
10:30 O RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING
QO WHEEL OF FORTUNE
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O03 09 LOVE OF LIFE
O MAYBERRY R.F.D.
11:00 fj MARCUS WELBY
O O AMERICA ALIVE
OO S20.000 PYRAMID
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RESTLESS
O LOVE AMERICAN STYLE
"0 OO RYAN'S HOPE
O 03 09 SEARCH FOR
TOMORROW
O WHAT'S NEW
AFTERNOON
12:00 O ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW
0000309 news
O NOON SHOW
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Q SESAME STREET
12:15 O FARM ACTION
fuV
12:30 O DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
OO DAYS OF OUR LIVES
CI CHOSS WITS
OD CD AS THE WORLD
JRNS
1:00 O LUCY SHOW
OO ONE UFE TO LIVE
O MOVIE 'Count Three And
Pray' (THUR ), 'It Happened To
Jane' (FRI), Boots Malone'
(MON). 'The Mountain Road'
(TUE.), The Flying Missile'
(WED.)
m EDUCATIONAL
PROGRAMMING (UNTIL 3:30)
1:30 O BEVERLY HILLBILLIES
OO DOCTORS
O 03 09 GUIDING LIGHT
2:00 O PLEASE DON'T EAT THE
DAISIES
OO ANOTHER WORLD
OO GENERAL HOSPITAL
O MOVIE Man With The Golden
Arm' (THUR ), Devil To Pay'
(FRI.), "The French Connection'
(MON ), 'Along Came A Spider'
(TUE.). 'The Princess And The
Pirate' (WED.)
2:30 O GOMER PYLE
OG3G9 M A S H.
C EDUCATIONAL
MOGRAMMING (UNTIL 3:30)
3:00 O MICKEY MOUSE CLUB
O GONG SHOW
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II HOLLYWOOD SQUARES
Q Q ffl AFT2RNOON
PLAYHOUSE (THUR..FRI.) Match
Game (MON , TUE , WED )
O SPIDERMAN
3:30 O O TOM AND JERRY
f j FUNTSTONES
O ALL IN THE FAMILY
0 PHIL DONAHUE SHOW
0 1 LOVE LUCY
O MERV GRIFFIN (EXC.WED.)
ABC Alterschool Special (WED.)
03 Q9 KALAMITY KATE'S SHOW
WAGON
ELECTRIC COMPANY
4:00 O WOODY WOODPECKER
O BEWITCHED
O I DREAM OF JEANNIE (EX
C7WED.) ABC Alterschool
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O DINAH
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0309 MIKE DOUGLAS
OD MISTER ROGERS
4:30 O GILLIGAN'S ISLAND
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SESAME STREET
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CJC9Q CBS NEWS
NEWS
O MY THREE SONS
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