Tina Louise, although best known for playing the glamorous movie star Ginger Grant on Sherwood Schwartz’s 1964 sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” had a long and varied career in television. When “Gilligan’s Island” was canceled in 1967, Louise didn’t lose her stride, immediately finding other gigs in other hot TV shows of the day. That same year, for instance, she appeared on an episode of the hit Western “Bonanza,” and in 1969 began appearing on occasional episodes of “Love, American Style.”
Beginning in the 1970s, though, Louise began a very impressive run of guest spots, appearing in single episodes of some of the biggest and best-known detective shows of the decade. In 1970s, she appeared in an episode of the Raymond Burr-starring “Ironside,” entitled “Beware the Wiles of a Stranger.” In 1973, she turned up in the Mike Connors detective series “Mannix” in the episode “The Faces of Murder.” Louise was in two episodes of “Police Story,” and in 1974, was in a “Kojak” episode called “They Die Before They Wake.”
Then, not to be outdone, in 1975, Louise rounded off this great cop-show marathon with a guest spot in the Quinn Martin series “Cannon.” After that, she took a break from cops and detectives for a spell and moved into shows like “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” and “Dallas” (Louise played the character of Julie Grey in six episodes). She was also in three episodes of “CHiPs” in 1979 and 1980, although that was hardly a hard-boiled detective show. That was closer to a sitcom on motorcycles. But it did involve cops, so maybe we can lump it in.
The point being, Tina Louise, for a notable chunk of her career, was a go-to detective series go-to.
Tina Louise was in a half dozen hit cop and detective shows throughout the 1970s
In her episode of “Mannix,” “The Faces of Murder,” Tina Louise plays a popular singer whose boyfriend, a guy named Gil, is murdered. The prime suspect is Lucas (Fred Sadoff), and Mannix is hired by his sister Christina (Susan Strasberg) to clear his name. Lucas, as it so happens, is sus as hell, as he is currently on trial for civic corruption, and he was found holding a gun over Gil’s dead body. Also, he confessed. Christina maintains, however, that she actually committed the murder, as she was having an affair with Gil and wanted to cover it up. Tina Louise played Gil’s celebrity girlfriend, who says she definitely would have known if Gil was sleeping around. Mannix, stalwart that he is, has to find out the truth.
In her episode of “Kojak,” Louise plays a character named Audrey Norris who interacts with Kojak (Telly Savalas) as he delves into a sex workers’ ring and a drug-pushing scheme. In her episode of “Police Story,” Louise plays a character named Anita, and the cops investigate a theft ring at a local department store. In her episode of “Cannon,” called “The Wedding March,” Louise plays Nell Dexter, a woman who lives in the shadow of a serial killer who likes to murder sex workers while playing the Wedding March. Cannon (William Conrad) is on the case.
In her “Ironside” episode, Louise plays a thief named Candy who needs a dead body to make her scheme work. And finally, in “CHiPs,” Louie was in a two-part episode playing a character named Edie, one of the celebrities at a big cop fundraiser. She also plays herself in another episode.
Tina Louise has had a decades-long, varied career
Because Louise played seven characters (including herself) across the six above cop shows, it’s fun to imagine that she was actually playing identical septuplets, and that each septuplet was merely involved in a different crime ring. Or we can just acknowledge that Tina Louise has had an awesome career across many genres, and is a very capable actress. At 92, Louise is the last living cast member of “Gilligan’s Island.”
To once again address the rumors, no, Louise did not hate “Gilligan’s Island.” Many fans got the impression that she did, however, from her staunch refusal to appear in any of the show’s follow-up movies and TV shows. She also didn’t appear at fan events nearly as much as, say, Bob Denver or Alan Hale. Louise has gone on the record, however, saying that she had a marvelous time playing Ginger, and that she likes the character. She didn’t look back because, well, she wanted to take part in other projects. She was able to star in some of the best detective shows of the ’70s as a result of her refusal to do “Gilligan” spinoffs. She followed her own career path, and that’s just fine.
Louise was also in “The Stepford Wives,” and multiple other movies. She kept on landing roles on TV, including hit shows like “Simon & Simon,” “Santa Barbara,” and even “Married… with Children.” Her most recent TV role was an episode of 1999’s “L.A. Heat,” and her most recent movie role was in a 2019 film called “Tapestry.” To this day, she still spends one hour a week reading to schoolchildren, an experience she cherishes.
