Summer Fun: Remembering Gilligan’s Island

Dawn Wells

Dawn Wells is most popular for her role as Mary Ann Summers, the “girl-next-door” on Gilligan’s Island. Before she was an actress, she actually was the girl-next-door type in real life, attending Stephens College in Missouri before she transferred to Seattle’s University of Washington. During her tenure as a typical college student, she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and she earned her degree in theater arts and design in 1960. She went on to compete in pageants, being crowned Miss Nevada in 1959 and representing the state in the 1960 Miss America pageant.