Eunice "Lovey" Howell | |
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Gilligan's Island character | |
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First appearance | "Marooned" Gilligan's Island (pilot, 1963) |
Last appearance | "Gilligan's Army" Gilligan's Planet (1982) |
Created by | Sherwood Schwartz |
Portrayed by | Natalie Schafer |
In-universe information | |
Gender | Female |
Occupation | Socialite |
Spouse | Thurston Howell III |
Lovey Howell (née Wentworth), is a fictional character from the 1964 television show Gilligan's Island played by Natalie Schafer. The character is a rich socialite married to millionaire businessman Thurston Howell III.
While Mr. Howell always calls her "Lovey", she is almost always otherwise referred to as "Mrs. Howell". In the pilot, a radio announcer says that among the missing people are "Thurston Howell III and his wife, international hostess Eunice "Lovey" Howell". When Gilligan believes he has won a lottery and invites all the people into the Howells' club, The Professor greets Mr. and Mrs. Howell as "Thurston" and "Lovey". In episode 31 of season 2, "Mr. and Mrs. ??", a radio announcer states that her maiden name was Wentworth.
Not much information was revealed about her life before being marooned with her fellow castaways, but she introduced herself in episode 6 of season 2 ("Quick Before It Sinks") as "Mrs. Thurston Howell III, from New York, Palm Beach and of course, Paris, mon cher". She also mentions in episode 17 of season 2: "You've Been Disconnected" that she spoke fluent French and Italian, hinting at a classical education. In episode 9 of season 3 ("Ring Around Gilligan"), Mr. Howell mentions her having studied at Vassar, saying "Mommy warned me about you Vassar girls and your long gym classes".
During episode 4 of season 2: "Smile, You're on Mars Camera" Thurston Howell indicates that Lovey, or at least her family, had money of their own; Mr. Howell describes her as being an heiress who is "loaded". It is also revealed that Mrs. Howell's father gave them an oil company (apparently dry) in "Dustbowl, Oklahoma" as a wedding gift, which she claims he thought was a football stadium (episode 13 of season 1:"Three Million Dollars More or Less"). Two members of her family Mr. Howell cannot stand are her mother (Mr. Howell describes her as sounding like a screech owl and having fangs for teeth and claws for hands) and her brother.
Mrs. Howell claims she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (episode 30 of season 2, "'V' for Vitamins"), to have been presented at the Court of St James, and to have been selected the "Queen of the Prune-Bowl Parade" (episode 30 of season 3, "Gilligan, the Goddess"). A favorite movie star of hers is silent movie star Mary Pickford ("Castaways Pictures Presents").
Although spoiled and preoccupied with social status, Mrs. Howell was also kind and genuinely cared about the well-being of her fellow castaways. She frequently served as something of a mother figure to the two younger female castaways, Ginger Grant and Mary Ann Summers, offering advice (though she sometimes also displays jealousy toward the two younger women). One of the Island "visitors" she can't stand is socialite Erika-Tiffany Smith (played by Zsa Zsa Gabor) because her name appears before the Howells in the "Social Register". She also claims to be close friends with "Grace and Prince Rainier" on several episodes.
Several times she acted as a motherly figure to Gilligan, such as psychoanalyzing him, adopting him, and praising him for his accomplishments when no one else did. She plotted with her husband several times to steal/access/manipulate things from the other survivors. She once tried to get Gilligan and Mary Ann to wed, kept a gold mine secret from the rest of the group, divulged secrets about stolen jewelry from a parrot, schemed to convince a burnt-out artist to leave the island, and got through to an uncivilized jungle boy played by Kurt Russell. Although she gives the impression of being physically frail, in one episode ("The Big Gold Strike") she actually resorts to physical menial labor in order to extract gold from a mine; in another ("Ring Around Gilligan"), under the influence of Mad Dr. Balinkoff's ring, she executes a judo flip on her husband. She adores dogs but is allergic to cats.
It was said by Thurston Howell that their brilliance together was exceeded only by their greed. They had a house in each state and numerous servants, including an upstairs maid, a downstairs maid and a butler who served Thurston breakfast in bed. Thurston once said that in their experience a neighborhood of households worth only a million dollars each was considered a slum area.
Although the Howells were portrayed as childless in the original series, their son Thurston Howell IV (portrayed by David Ruprecht) was introduced in the reunion movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island .
Gilligan's Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to April 17, 1967. The series follows the comic adventures of seven castaways as they try to survive on an island where they are shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their unsuccessful attempts to escape their plight, with the ship's first mate, Gilligan, usually being responsible for the failures.
James Gilmore Backus was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, the father of James Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, the voice of the near-sighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, and Joan Davis' character's husband on TV's I Married Joan. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire.
Natalie Schafer was an American actress, best known today for her role as Lovey Howell on the sitcom Gilligan's Island (1964–1967).
Ginger Grant is a fictional character portrayed by actress Tina Louise in the 1964 to 1967 television sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Thurston Howell III is a character on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan's Island, which ran from 1964 to 1967, and later in syndication.
Dusty's Trail is an American Western/comedy series starring Bob Denver and Forrest Tucker that aired in syndication from September 1973 to March 1974. The series is a western-themed reworking of Denver's previous series Gilligan's Island.
The S. S. Minnow is a fictional charter boat on the hit 1960s television sitcom Gilligan's Island. The ship ran aground on the shore of "an uncharted desert isle" in the south Pacific Ocean, setting the stage for this popular situation comedy. The crew of two were the skipper Jonas Grumby and his first mate Gilligan, and the five passengers were millionaire Thurston Howell III, his wife Lovey Howell, movie star Ginger Grant, professor Roy Hinkley, and farm girl Mary Ann Summers.
Gilligan's Planet is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation and MGM/UA Television which aired during the 1982–1983 season on CBS. It was the second animated spin-off of the sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Gilligan's Wake (ISBN 0-312-29123-X) is a 2003 novel, loosely based on the 1960s CBS sitcom Gilligan's Island, written by Esquire film and television critic Tom Carson. The title is derived from the title of the TV show and Finnegans Wake, the final work of Irish novelist James Joyce. The novel was published subsequently as a paperback in 2004 (ISBN 0-312-31114-1).
The New Adventures of Gilligan is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation, which aired on ABC during the 1974–75 seasons. The show was based on the 1964–67 sitcom Gilligan's Island. A few years later, Filmation produced a sequel, Gilligan's Planet.
Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show Gilligan's Island and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called "little buddy" by the "Skipper", is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone first mate of the SS Minnow. His full name is never given. He wears a trademark red shirt, pale trousers, white sneakers, and white navy cap.
Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a 1978 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–67 sitcom Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr., and featuring all the original cast except Tina Louise. The film first aired on NBC as a two-part special on October 14 and October 21, 1978. The film has the characters finally being rescued after 15 years on the island. The film was directed by Leslie H. Martinson.
"The Producer" is the fourth episode of the third season of Gilligan's Island, in which the castaways stage a musical version of Hamlet. It first aired in on October 3, 1966.
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island is a 1979 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island and the first reunion movie, Rescue from Gilligan's Island, featuring the original cast from the television series with the exception of Tina Louise, who was replaced in the role of Ginger Grant by Judith Baldwin. Written by Al Schwartz, Elroy Schwartz and series creator Sherwood Schwartz and directed by Earl Bellamy, it was first broadcast on NBC May 3, 1979. Unlike the independently-produced Rescue from Gilligan's Island, this and the subsequent The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island were produced by MCA/Universal Television.
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island is a 1981 made-for-television comedy film. It is the third of three movies that reunited the cast of the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island. The film aired on NBC on May 15, 1981.
Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History is a 2001 American made-for-television docudrama film based on the 1964–1967 television sitcom Gilligan's Island.
The first season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island was shown in the United States on September 26, 1964 and concluded on June 12, 1965 on CBS. The season introduced the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolved around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Saturdays at 8:30-9:00 pm (EST).
The second season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island commenced airing in the United States on September 16, 1965, and concluded on April 28, 1966, on CBS. The second season continues the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempt to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Thursdays at 8:00-8:30 pm (EST). Unlike the first season, this season was shot in color.
The third and final season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island commenced airing in the United States on September 12, 1966, and concluded on April 17, 1967, on CBS. The third season continues the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Mondays at 7:30-8:00 pm (EST).