Before Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale Jr. Starred In Clint Eastwood's Legendary Western Series

Alan Hale Jr. starred in the beloved CBS sitcom "Gilligan's Island," but it wasn't his first appearance in one of the network's best-known shows. Two years prior to the 1964 debut of "Gilligan's Island," Hale Jr. showed up in an episode of the similarly legendary Western series "Rawhide," which boasted a young Clint Eastwood as one of its stars.

"Rawhide" was the show that launched Eastwood's career after he'd spent much of the '50s in bit parts. To be more accurate, Eastwood's career began by causing director Jack Arnold to have an on-set breakdown. But that was back when he was just starting out as a contract player at Universal. In 1962, the actor had become a well-established TV star, and was just two years away from helping Sergio Leone rewrite the rules of filmmaking with "A Fistful of Dollars." It was at this point that he and Alan Hale Jr. worked together for the first — but not the last — time.

Like Eastwood, the future Skipper actor had spent the 1950s in smaller parts, though his were more significant. By the time he came to guest star on "Rawhide," for example, Hale Jr. had led his own short-lived sitcom in "Biff Baker, U.S.A." and appeared alongside the type of Western legends with which a then 33-year-old Eastwood could only dream of working. Still, real fame was proving elusive for Hale Jr. when he first reported for his "Rawhide" gig.

It's tough to find a Western TV series on which Alan Hale Jr. didn't guest star in the 1950s and 60s. "Cheyenne" was the long-forgotten gem that completely changed television and that hosted Hale Jr. for two episodes in 1957 and 1960. "The Texan," "Bonanza," and "Gunsmoke" also welcomed the future "Gilligan's Island" star, so when "Rawhide" beckoned in 1962, Hale Jr. knew his way around the Old West.

"Rawhide" Season 4 Episode 16, "The Woman Trap," aired on January 26, 1962. It saw Eric Fleming's Gil Favor and Eastwood's ramrod, Rowdy Yates, encounter a group of women on their way to Fort Worth. The wagon-loads of mail-order brides are being transported by a mysterious man named Harleck (Robert Gist), who has told the girls they're on their way to meet their future husbands. But he soon switches things up and reveals they're actually being transported to a small West Texas town to wed a group of cattle rustlers. When Favor and his men discover one of the brides left for dead on their journey, he, Rowdy Yates, and Hey Soos (Robert Cabal) head back to try to help the women but soon wind up hostages themselves.

The episode saw Hale Jr. play Wagon Master J. T. Lucas, who's in charge of the wagon train transporting the ladies to their destination. Initially, he and Favor get along, but their bond soon breaks down once Fleming's trail boss discovers Lucas and Harleck's plans. All of which means Hale is given a decent amount of lines and features in quite a lot of the episode — which is more than can be said for much of his supporting roles in the 1950s and '60s.

Alongside Alan Hale Jr., "The Woman Trap" also featured Marion Ross as Flora, the bride left for dead in the desert. A decade later, she would play Richie Cunningham's mother in "Happy Days." Hale Jr., on the other hand, was destined for sitcom success much sooner after his "Rawhide" guest spot.

A year and a half later, Hale Jr. found himself shooting what became the unaired "Gilligan's Island" pilot, which was filmed in November 1963 at the time of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s assassination (which is why you can see a flag at half-mast in the opening credits of "Gilligan's Island" Season 1). By that point, Hale Jr. had packed in several more small-screen guest appearances in shows such as "Wagon Train," "Maverick," and "Perry Mason." When "Gilligan's Island" was green-lit and Hale stepped into the role of Captain Jonas Grumby, however, he finally found the fame that had proved so elusive over the past decade and a half.

After "Gilligan's Island," Hale Jr. appeared in one of Clint Eastwood's most important Westerns when he played Matt Stone in "Hang 'Em High." It was fitting that this film was Eastwood's first big test as a movie star stateside. Having fronted Sergio Leone's trilogy, the young star was tasked with proving his appeal in the United States, and did so with "Hang 'Em High." Hale Jr., who'd been there to see him develop his skills on "Rawhide," could now also claim to have been there to witness the man become the legend.