Gilligan's Island Guest Star Roman Gabriel Loved One Thing About His Brief Appearance

CBS

Throughout its three-year run and subsequent follow-up TV movies, "Gilligan's Island" had some great guest stars. Comedian Don Rickles managed to make The Professor actor Russell Johnson lose his cool, and the castaways once welcomed the entire Harlem Globetrotters team in their final TV movie. Those weren't the only athletes to visit the isle, either. In 1966, then-Los Angeles Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel (who later played for the Philadelphia Eagles) appeared on the show, and it seems his favorite part was meeting Dawn Wells.

As beloved as the "Gilligan's Island" cast were, every now and then they needed help carrying the sitcom across its three seasons. In fact, it became a bit of a joke that, despite the crew of the S.S. Minnow being stranded on a remote Pacific island, they were frequently visited by all manner of guests, with the writers finding ever more absurd and unlikely excuses to bring in new arrivals. A young Kurt Russell, for example, shows up in Season 1, apparently having been on the island for some time and developing the ability to mimic English when he hears it.

When Gabriel appeared on the 1966 episode "Topsy-Turvey," he found himself in the somewhat questionable role of a tribal head-hunter who arrives on the island alongside Eddie Little Sky and Allen Jaffe. The first Filipino-American quarterback in the NFL, who also played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, basically had to hunt the castaways for half an hour as they escaped their pursuers in increasingly ridiculous ways. But it seems Gabriel was less concerned with his storyline than with having the chance to meet one member of the cast in particular.

CBS

Roman Gabriel, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 83, only guested on one episode of "Gilligan's Island," but that was enough for him, as it gave him a chance to meet the great Dawn Wells. Author and "unofficial historian of Wolfpack athletics" (according to his bio on social media) Tim Peeler revealed (via X/Twitter) that he'd once asked Gabriel what he enjoyed about appearing on "Gilligan's Island." He gave a three-word answer: "Meeting Mary Ann."

The character many fans consider the best member of the "Gilligan's Island" cast, Mary Ann Summers, was played by Wells from the show's very beginning in 1964. One of the great girls-next-door in TV history, Mary Ann provided a more earthy counterpart to Tina Louise's movie star Ginger Grant. Interestingly enough, the character wasn't initially supposed to be part of the show. Mary Ann didn't appear in the unaired "Gilligan's Island" pilot, which remained hidden for 29 years. When the sitcom was reworked and finally debuted on CBS, Mary Ann and Russell Johnson's Professor Roy Hinkley had been added to the cast, and it was all the better for it.

That certainly worked out for Gabriel, who was evidently a fan of Wells' character. He was also a more prolific actor than many realize. Though he didn't exactly achieve movie stardom, the NFL Hall of Famer appeared in multiple shows and films during the '60s and '70s, including the 1969 John Wayne and Rock Hudson film "The Undefeated," on which Wayne suffered a lifelong injury. He also appeared in an episode of "Perry Mason." Like "Gilligan's Island" actor Alan Hale Jr., then, Gabriel worked with both the Duke and Raymond Burr's Los Angeles-based criminal defense lawyer.