Bob Denver Dies

LOS ANGELES -- The agent for actor Bob Denver says the man best known for his portrayal of goofy first mate Gilligan on the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island" has died.

Denver was 70.

Mike Eisenstadt said Denver died Friday at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina.

Denver had undergone quadruple bypass surgery earlier this year.
The actor's wife, Dreama, and his children Patrick, Megan, Emily and Colin were with him when he died.

"He was my everything and I will love him forever," Dreama said in a statement.

The couple lived near Princeton, W.V.

Denver was born Jan. 9, 1935, in New Rochelle, N.Y.

He first rose to fame as Maynard G. Krebs in the television classic, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which aired from 1959 to 1963.

But it was Denver's turn as Gilligan, the inept first mate of the tour boat "The S.S. Minnow," that made him a television icon.

Denver played Gilligan in the television series from 1964 to 1967, where he kept tourists marooned on an uncharted desert island for three seasons.

He later played the character again in several "Gilligan's Island" television movies.

Denver told The Associated Press in 2001 that he realized long ago he'd probably never escape the goofy character that made him recognizable to generations of viewers.

But, Denver said he made peace with being known as Gillligan, because he said fans were always so nice to him.

Denver is the fourth cast member from "Gilligan's Island" to die. Jim Backus (Thurston Howell III) died in 1989 at 76, and Alan Hale Jr. (The Skipper) died a year later at 67.

Natalie Shafer (Mrs. Lovey Howell) died in 1991 at 90.

The show now only has three surviving cast members: Russell Johnson (The Professor), Tina Louise (Ginger) and Dawn Wells (Mary Ann).