Alan Hale, Jr.
Encyclopedia
Alan Hale, Jr. was an American
film and television actor
, best known for his role as Skipper (Jonas Grumby)
on the popular sitcom
Gilligan's Island
. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr.
, California
. His father was character actor Alan Hale, Sr.
and his mother was Gretchen Hartman (1897–1979), a silent film actress. His father (whom his son greatly resembled) had an extremely successful career in movies both as a leading man in silent films and as a supporting actor in sound movies, appearing in many Errol Flynn
films, acting in 235 movies altogether, and playing Little John
in Robin Hood
films three times over a 28-year span, beginning with the silent Douglas Fairbanks
version. While his father was adapting to sound films, Hale, Jr., began his career while still a baby.
During the Second World War
, Hale, Jr. enlisted in the United States Coast Guard
.
After the death of his father in 1950, Alan stopped using "Junior".
's recurring cast of players. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he frequently appeared in Autry movies and The Gene Autry Show
on television. He starred in television series, such as the CBS
Cold War
espionage program from 1952–1953, Biff Baker, U.S.A.
, with co-star Randy Stuart
, as his wife, Louise Baker.
Hale guest starred in the NBC
western
anthology series Frontier
. He later appeared in the classic CBS
western series Wanted: Dead or Alive opposite Steve McQueen
in episode No. 5 as Shawnee Bill, and played the titular lead in the television series Casey Jones
. In 1959, Hale appeared as a sheriff on John Payne
's The Restless Gun
in the episode entitled "Incident at Bluefields". He also appeared as Mizzell in Springfield Rifle
starring Gary Cooper
and The True Story of Jesse James starring Robert Wagner
.
In 1961, Hale appeared in Audie Murphy
's short-lived NBC western detective series, Whispering Smith
, as the witness to a murder. In 1962, Hale also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show
as Jeff Pruitt, a rough, back-woods bachelor
who comes to Mayberry to find a bride. In the episode, he refers to Barney Fife
more than once as "little buddy," a nickname he would later use in his most famous and beloved role, that of the Skipper on Gilligan's Island
, which ran from 1964 to 1967. He appeared in an episode of CBS's The New Phil Silvers Show
in the 1963–1964 season. In 1967, he appeared in the Batman
episode titled "The Ogg and I part 1" where he played a bartender named "Gilligan".
Hale's work was not confined to comedies. In 1958, he guest starred on NBC
's adventure series Northwest Passage
, co-starring Buddy Ebsen
. In 1962, he guest starred in an episode of ABC
's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
with Stephen McNally
. He starred with Bob Denver
(Hale's Gilligan co-star) in The Good Guys (1968–70). He appeared in three episodes of ABC's Fantasy Island
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He also made a guest appearance in an episode of Growing Pains
in the episode "This Is Your Life" as a cab driver.
Hale also made an appearance on the television western The Wild, Wild West
, joining Robert Conrad
as Secret Service agent Ned Brown. At the end of the episode, character James West asks Brown what he planned to do next. "I'm going to make a big dream come true. And do you know what my big dream is? I'm going to spend my vacation all alone... on a desert island", after which the first few notes of the theme from Gilligan's Island can be heard in the background. Fellow Gilligan's Island castaway Jim Backus
also appears in the episode as Fabian Swanson.
During his career, Hale was noted for his supporting character roles in such movies as Up Periscope
with James Garner
, The Fifth Musketeer
, The Lady Takes a Flyer
, stock car racing
film Thunder in Carolina
, The Giant Spider Invasion
, The Sea Chase
with John Wayne
, Hang 'Em High
with Clint Eastwood
, and The West Point Story
with James Cagney
as well as The Gunfighter
with Gregory Peck
.
its actors, making it difficult for them to successfully pursue diversified acting opportunities. They received no substantial residual payments for their roles, and the difficulty in finding roles often created financial hardship and resentment. However, Hale often said he did not mind being so closely identified with the Skipper. He co-owned a restaurant in the West Hollywood area (Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel) and would often greet customers in his "Skipper" hat.
During the weekends from 1974 to 1977, a new generation enjoyed the cartoon version of The New Adventures of Gilligan
, and by 1978, they brought back the original crew for a TV film named Rescue from Gilligan's Island
. Hale also portrayed the Skipper in two more TV reunion films in 1979 and 1981, and participated in numerous reunions with the cast throughout the 1980s. His final appearances as the Skipper were on a 1987 episode of the sitcom ALF
, and for several 1989 clips promoting Gilligan's Island reruns on TBS (TV network), both alongside his old friend Bob Denver
. He also made a cameo appearance with Denver in the 1987 film Back to the Beach
.
Hale was known for his great love of children. When he was dying of cancer
, he learned there was a sick child in the same hospital who loved the Gilligan's Island show. He went to see the boy and said "The Skipper's here, son, everything is going to be all right." The child, having noticed all the weight Hale had lost due to cancer, inquired about it. Hale made up a story on the spot about how there was a new version of the show in the works, and he was going to play Gilligan.
in the final years, Hale died of thyroid cancer
at St. Vincent Medical Center
in Los Angeles . He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film and television actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for his role as Skipper (Jonas Grumby)
The Skipper
The Skipper is the title and nickname of Jonas Grumby, a fictional character from the 1960s situation comedy Gilligan's Island. Played by Alan Hale, Jr., the Skipper was the owner and captain of the S. S...
on the popular sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...
Early life
Hale was born Alan Hale Mackahan in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. His father was character actor Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale, Sr.
Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...
and his mother was Gretchen Hartman (1897–1979), a silent film actress. His father (whom his son greatly resembled) had an extremely successful career in movies both as a leading man in silent films and as a supporting actor in sound movies, appearing in many Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
films, acting in 235 movies altogether, and playing Little John
Little John
Little John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
in Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
films three times over a 28-year span, beginning with the silent Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
version. While his father was adapting to sound films, Hale, Jr., began his career while still a baby.
During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Hale, Jr. enlisted in the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
.
After the death of his father in 1950, Alan stopped using "Junior".
Career
Hale's first important roles were as a member of Gene AutryGene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
's recurring cast of players. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he frequently appeared in Autry movies and The Gene Autry Show
The Gene Autry Show
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.-Overview:...
on television. He starred in television series, such as the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
espionage program from 1952–1953, Biff Baker, U.S.A.
Biff Baker, U.S.A.
Biff Baker, U.S.A. is an American crime drama television series that aired on CBS from November 6, 1952, to March 26, 1953 starring Alan Hale, Jr. as Cold War spy Biff Baker.-Synopsis:...
, with co-star Randy Stuart
Randy Stuart
Randy Stuart, born as Elizabeth Shaubell , was an American actress whose longest running role was as Louise Baker, the wife of the Cold War spy in the 26-episode adventure television series, Biff Baker, U.S.A., which aired on CBS, with Alan Hale, Jr., as the title character...
, as his wife, Louise Baker.
Hale guest starred in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
anthology series Frontier
Frontier (1955 TV series)
This program should not be confused with Frontiers , the British program Frontier , Frontier Justice , Frontier Circus, or Frontier Doctor....
. He later appeared in the classic CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
western series Wanted: Dead or Alive opposite Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
in episode No. 5 as Shawnee Bill, and played the titular lead in the television series Casey Jones
Casey Jones (TV series)
Casey Jones is an American children's Western series that ran during the '58-'59 television season, based around the pioneering western railroads. The series aired in syndication in the United States...
. In 1959, Hale appeared as a sheriff on John Payne
John Payne (actor)
John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
's The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
in the episode entitled "Incident at Bluefields". He also appeared as Mizzell in Springfield Rifle
Springfield Rifle
The term Springfield Rifle may refer to any one of several types of small arms produced by the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the United States armed forces....
starring Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and The True Story of Jesse James starring Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
.
In 1961, Hale appeared in Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy was a highly decorated and famous soldier. Through LIFE magazine's July 16, 1945 issue , he became one the most famous soldiers of World War II and widely regarded as the most decorated American soldier of the war...
's short-lived NBC western detective series, Whispering Smith
Whispering Smith (TV series)
Whispering Smith is a short-lived American Western series that aired on NBC. Based on a 1948 movie, the series stars Audie Murphy as Tom "Whispering" Smith, a police detective in Denver, Colorado...
, as the witness to a murder. In 1962, Hale also appeared on The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
as Jeff Pruitt, a rough, back-woods bachelor
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married . Unlike his female counterpart, the spinster, a bachelor may have had children...
who comes to Mayberry to find a bride. In the episode, he refers to Barney Fife
Barney Fife
Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
more than once as "little buddy," a nickname he would later use in his most famous and beloved role, that of the Skipper on Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
, which ran from 1964 to 1967. He appeared in an episode of CBS's The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show
The New Phil Silvers Show is an American situation comedy starring comedian Phil Silvers which aired thirty episodes on CBS from September 28, 1963, to April 25, 1964, under the sponsorship of General Foods.-Synopsis:...
in the 1963–1964 season. In 1967, he appeared in the Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
episode titled "The Ogg and I part 1" where he played a bartender named "Gilligan".
Hale's work was not confined to comedies. In 1958, he guest starred on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's adventure series Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage (TV series)
Northwest Passage is a 26-episode half-hour adventure television series produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer about Major Robert Rogers during the time of the French and Indian War . The show derived its title and the main characters Rogers, Towne, and Marriner from the 1937 novel of the same name by...
, co-starring Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
. In 1962, he guest starred in an episode of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
with Stephen McNally
Stephen McNally
Stephen McNally was an American actor remembered mostly for his appearances in many westerns and action films. He was an attorney in the late 1930s before pursuing a career in acting.-Career:...
. He starred with Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...
(Hale's Gilligan co-star) in The Good Guys (1968–70). He appeared in three episodes of ABC's Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He also made a guest appearance in an episode of Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
in the episode "This Is Your Life" as a cab driver.
Hale also made an appearance on the television western The Wild, Wild West
The Wild, Wild West
Wild Wild West or The Wild Wild West may refer to:In film and television:*The Wild Wild West , a 1921 film starring Hoot Gibson*The Wild Wild West, a CBS television show, 1965-1969...
, joining Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad
Robert Conrad is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the 1965 CBS television series The Wild Wild West, in which he played the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West, and his portrayal of World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Baa Baa Black Sheep...
as Secret Service agent Ned Brown. At the end of the episode, character James West asks Brown what he planned to do next. "I'm going to make a big dream come true. And do you know what my big dream is? I'm going to spend my vacation all alone... on a desert island", after which the first few notes of the theme from Gilligan's Island can be heard in the background. Fellow Gilligan's Island castaway Jim Backus
Jim Backus
James Gilmore "Jim" Backus was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr...
also appears in the episode as Fabian Swanson.
During his career, Hale was noted for his supporting character roles in such movies as Up Periscope
Up Periscope
Up Periscope is a 1959 World War II drama starring James Garner as a Navy frogman fighting the Japanese. The supporting cast includes Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin, and Alan Hale, Jr.. The film was written by Richard H. Landau and Robb White from White's novel, produced by Aubrey Schenk, and...
with James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
, The Fifth Musketeer
The Fifth Musketeer
The Fifth Musketeer is a 1979 film adaptation of the last section of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask....
, The Lady Takes a Flyer
The Lady Takes a Flyer
The Lady Takes a Flyer is a 1958 romantic drama film made by Universal International Pictures. It was directed by Jack Arnold, and written by Danny Arnold, based on story by Edmund H...
, stock car racing
Stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, Brazil and Argentina. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately in length...
film Thunder in Carolina
Thunder in Carolina
Thunder in Carolina is a 1960 stock car racing movie starring Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale, Jr., and Connie Hines. It was written by Alexander Richards, directed by Paul Helmick, and contains remarkable 1959-vintage stock car race footage....
, The Giant Spider Invasion
The Giant Spider Invasion
The Giant Spider Invasion is a low-budget 1975 film produced by Transcentury Pictures, a partnership owned by the film's director Bill Rebane. The film is about giant spiders that terrorize the town of Merrill, Wisconsin and the surrounding area. The Giant Spider Invasion was given a U.S. release...
, The Sea Chase
The Sea Chase
The Sea Chase is a 1955 World War II drama film starring John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was directed by John Farrow and written by James Warner Bellah. The plot is basically a nautical cat and mouse game, with Wayne determined to get his German freighter home during the first few months of the war,...
with John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Hang 'Em High
Hang 'Em High
Hang 'Em High is a 1968 American Western film directed by Ted Post and produced and co-written by Leonard Freeman. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching, Inger Stevens as a widow who helps him, Ed Begley as the leader of the gang that lynched him, and Pat...
with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, and The West Point Story
The West Point Story (film)
The West Point Story is a 1950 musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Doris Day.-Plot:...
with James Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
as well as The Gunfighter
The Gunfighter
The Gunfighter is a 1950 western film starring Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Millard Mitchell and Karl Malden . This film was directed by Henry King...
with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
.
Gilligan's Island
The Skipper on Gilligan's Island (1964–1967) proved to be the most prominent role for Hale, as the show continued to be popular for later generations of viewers due to syndicated re-runs. The popularity of the show typecastTypecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
its actors, making it difficult for them to successfully pursue diversified acting opportunities. They received no substantial residual payments for their roles, and the difficulty in finding roles often created financial hardship and resentment. However, Hale often said he did not mind being so closely identified with the Skipper. He co-owned a restaurant in the West Hollywood area (Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel) and would often greet customers in his "Skipper" hat.
During the weekends from 1974 to 1977, a new generation enjoyed the cartoon version of The New Adventures of Gilligan
The New Adventures Of Gilligan
The New Adventures of Gilligan is an animated series produced by Filmation and was aired on ABC during the 1974-1975 season. It was based on the 1964-1967 CBS television series Gilligan's Island and featured almost all the actors from the show, except for Tina Louise, who was determined to distance...
, and by 1978, they brought back the original crew for a TV film named Rescue from Gilligan's Island
Rescue From Gilligan's Island
Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a two-part television movie that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 TV series Gilligan's Island starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale, Jr. The film first aired on NBC October 14 and October 21, 1978...
. Hale also portrayed the Skipper in two more TV reunion films in 1979 and 1981, and participated in numerous reunions with the cast throughout the 1980s. His final appearances as the Skipper were on a 1987 episode of the sitcom ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
, and for several 1989 clips promoting Gilligan's Island reruns on TBS (TV network), both alongside his old friend Bob Denver
Bob Denver
Robert Osbourne "Bob" Denver was an American comedic actor known for his roles as Gilligan on the television series Gilligan's Island and the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.-Early life:Denver was born in New Rochelle, New York, and raised in...
. He also made a cameo appearance with Denver in the 1987 film Back to the Beach
Back to the Beach
Back to the Beach is a 1987 comedy film starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, directed by Lyndall Hobbs. The original music score is composed by Steve Dorff. The film generated a total domestic gross of $13,110,903...
.
Hale was known for his great love of children. When he was dying of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, he learned there was a sick child in the same hospital who loved the Gilligan's Island show. He went to see the boy and said "The Skipper's here, son, everything is going to be all right." The child, having noticed all the weight Hale had lost due to cancer, inquired about it. Hale made up a story on the spot about how there was a new version of the show in the works, and he was going to play Gilligan.
Death
A resident of Hollywood, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the final years, Hale died of thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer
Thyroid neoplasm is a neoplasm or tumor of the thyroid. It can be a benign tumor such as thyroid adenoma, or it can be a malignant neoplasm , such as papillary, follicular, medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer. Most patients are 25 to 65 years of age when first diagnosed; women are more affected...
at St. Vincent Medical Center
St. Vincent Medical Center (Los Angeles)
St. Vincent Medical Center is a hospital in Los Angeles, California.-History:Originally founded in 1856 as the Los Angeles Infirmary by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Vincent Medical Center was the first hospital in Los Angeles. The name was changed in 1918 to St. Vincent's...
in Los Angeles . He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea.