Three-hour tour of a career

Gilligan's dead. He died on Friday. Poor old silly old chicken-headed Gilligan. His name was Bob Denver, of course, no relation to John as far as I know, but he did live in West Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River. Which are not actually in West Virginia, as someone from West Virginia once told me at a drunken awards night. I think she said they were in Virginia, but it reminded me once again why I don't trust song lyrics.

Gilligan's Island, the absolute naffest of the naff TV series, ran from 1964 to 1967. Yet it had a kind of irritating charm, a bit like Winston Peters. The weekly tale of a bunch of idiots stranded on deserted island after a pleasure cruise, and its silly theme tune, stayed with me. I must have seen it in repeats, as I wasn't yet a sentient being.

He was 70, would you believe, Gilligan. He'd had a quadruple bypass earlier this year and was having treatment for cancer, says the NY Times.

"Little buddy" is survived by his third wife, Dreama – America is such a strange place – and children. The Denvers had a syndicated radio show, Weekend with Denver and Denver. America is such a strange place.

A few years ago, a tabloid magazine tracked down the cast members of Gilligan's Island. Gilligan, the Skipper too, the Millionaire, and his Wife; the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann. Usually these Whatever Happened To... stories are furiously upbeat and show how gorgeous these now quite clearly ancient people still are. But the Professor, for one, doubtless despite the best efforts of make-up, lighting and digital retouching, looked like he'd been drinking fermented coconut juice for the past 40 years. Poor Professor. He was the best one, a sort of predigital McGyver, who invented a radio out of coconuts and braided tree fronds. And he never got to shag Mary Ann.

Slate's Dana Stevens has a telling anecdote about the man (though she's mistaken about Dawn Wells. She was Mary Jane.

In 1998, at the age of 63, Denver was charged with possession of 35 grams of marijuana, which he claimed at first to have obtained from his friend and former Gilligan co-star Dawn Wells, who played the vampy movie star Ginger. But later in court, Denver refused to narc on Wells, testifying that "some crazy fan must have sent it" (along, presumably, with the 10 other grams of pot and three pipes found in a search of his home). After pleading no contest to the charge, he received six months' probation.

Given Denver's role in the creation of two of the archetypal TV slackers of our culture, there's something sweet about this story: The image of the then 59-year-old Ginger acting as Gilligan's supplier; his loyalty in refusing to name her in court; and most of all, the image of an aging Gilligan/[earlier character] Maynard G Krebs, still dreaming away in his hammock or jamming on his bongo drums, smiling, a little high, and not quite ready to leave the island yet.