Natalie Schafer Thought Gilligan’s Island Was Going To Be A Huge Flop

Natalie Schafer, who played the prim and positive Mrs. Howell on Sherwood Schwartz’s 1964 sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” notoriously agreed to join the cast merely because she wanted a free Hawaiian vacation. A few of the opening scenes in the pilot and first episode of “Gilligan’s” were shot on location, and Schafer figured an acting gig was the best way to sneak her way over there and relax on a beach for a few weeks. All she needed to do was act in a few scenes, collect a paycheck, and relaxation could commence. 

Schafer had been a professional actress for decades, having a career that began on stage in 1927. By 1964, she had hundreds of credits to her name, and Mrs. Howell was a walk in the park; she had played many similar roles in the past, so Schafer didn’t have to delve deeply or do a lot of research. Mrs. Howell came naturally. She, along with the six other stranded castaways, all developed a rapport very quickly, and she locked her character into place without effort. It was a job, and she was happy to do it if the beach was nearby. Indeed, some time at a resort was required to offset how terrible the script was. 

Back in 1965, Schafer was interviewed by the Copley News Service (handily archived by MeTV) and she was incredibly frank about her opinion of “Gilligan’s Island.” She didn’t think it was funny or clever, using the word “awful” to describe Schwartz’s writing. Additionally, she had no interest in starring in a long-running TV series; she preferred to take jobs as they came, rather than sign extended contracts. She admitted that she took the gig thinking that the series would bomb immediately, and she would be off the hook. 

“Gilligan’s Island” ran for 98 episodes. 

Shafer, of course, didn’t resent “Gilligan’s Island” for very long, as the show became a massive hit. But at first, she wanted out as quickly as possible, and assumed she’d get her wish. Two years into the show, she said: 

“I read the first script and said to myself, ‘My heavens, this is awful!’ Now, you see, I can’t bear being tied down. On Broadway, I’d never sign a run-of-the-play contract. And as for a television series — well, I thought we’ll go to Hawaii and film the first episode, as we did, and the show will be an utter bomb, and I’ll move on to other things.”

The pilot was picked up, and Shafer was initially dismayed. When “Gilligan’s Island” became instantly successful, however, she confessed that her attitude changed. She admitted, “I was wrong, as were the critics and that man, who shall be nameless, who was president of CBS.” Critics, one might know, were notoriously harsh to “Gilligan’s,” feeling it insipid and dumb. The nameless man in question was either William S. Paley or Frank Stanton, both of whom said out loud how much they hated the series, and who infamously wanted the castaways to leave the island and travel around the oceans. Sherwood Schwartz, however, stuck by his guns, and created one of the most famous shows in TV history.

Schafer had no regrets, saying that “two years later, I’m still on ‘Gilligan’s Island’ and it’s a hit show and isn’t it heaven?” Schafer continued to work with alarming frequency after “Island,” going back to her habit of drifting from project to project. She passed away in 1991 at the age of 90. Shafer’s legacy is long and respectable.