Movies - TV
Gilligan's Island Was Rewritten Because Of Jim Backus' Casting
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Jim Backus' first major gig was in the 1940 radio serial "Society Girl." In 1964, the actor landed one of his most famous roles as Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island."
Backus was indisputably the show's biggest star when "Gilligan's Island" started. When the actor was cast, show creator Sherwood Schwartz changed some of the writing.
When talking with the Television Foundation about the pilot episode, Schwartz said, "I had a little hut on the beach where I was rewriting the script to more stuff for Jim Backus."
He added, "Because I now had him, and I had to enlarge his part. Which I had promised, and I did it." Backus would continue to play Mr. Howell in various spinoffs for years.