TINA LOUISE
Name: Tina Louise
Birth name: Tina Blacker
Born: 11 February 1934 New York City, New York, U.S.
Tina Louise (born February 11, 1934) is an American model, singer and actress.
She is best known for her role as "movie star" Ginger Grant on the TV sitcom
Gilligan's Island.
She was born in New York City, an only child and attended the Miami University
in Oxford, Ohio. She began her career as a model and nightclub singer while she
studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Her acting debut came in 1952 in the
Bette Davis musical revue Two's Company, followed by roles in other Broadway
productions as John Murray Anderson's Almanac, The Fifth Season, and Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She also appeared in such early live TV dramas as
Studio One, Producers Showcase, and Appointment with Adventure.
In 1957, she and Julie Newmar appeared on Broadway in the hit musical Li'l Abner.
Her album It's Time for Tina was also released that year, with songs such as "Embraceable
You" and "I'm in the Mood for Love."
She made her Hollywood film debut in 1958 in God's Little Acre. She became an in-demand
leading lady for major stars like Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark and Robert Ryan,
often playing somber roles quite unlike the glamorous pinup photographs and
Playboy pictorials she had become famous for in the late 1950s. Further roles
followed, on Broadway and in films in Italy and Hollywood, but they failed to
accelerate her career. Among her more notable Italian film credits was the
historical epic Viva L'Italia! (1960), directed by Roberto Rossellini, that
concerned Garibaldi's efforts to unify the Italian states in 1860.
When Louise returned to the United States, she began studying with Lee Strasberg
and eventually became a member of the Actors Studio. She appeared in an early
1960s "beach movie," For Those Who Think Young, with Bob Denver, prior to the
development of Gilligan's Island.
In 1964, she left the Broadway musical Fade Out - Fade In to portray movie star
Ginger Grant on the TV sitcom Gilligan's Island, after the part was turned down
by Jayne Mansfield. However, she was unhappy with the role and worried that it
would typecast her. The role did make Louise a pop icon of the era, and in 2005
an episode of TV Land Top Ten ranked her #2 as television's all-time sex symbol,
second only to Heather Locklear.
After the series ended in 1967, Louise continued to work in films and made
numerous guest appearances in various television series. She appeared as a
doomed suburban housewife in the original The Stepford Wives (1975), and both
the film and her performance were well received. She attempted to shed her
comedic image by essaying grittier roles, including a guest appearance as a
pathetic heroin addict in a 1974 Kojak episode, as well as a co-starring role as
an evil Southern prison guard in the 1976 ABC TV Movie Nightmare in Badham
County. Her other TV movies of the period included Look What's Happened to
Rosemary's Baby (1976), SST: Death Flight (1977), and Friendships Secrets and
Lies (1979).
Despite this success, she has declined to participate in any of the four reunion
television movies for Gilligan's Island, but did appear on a few talk shows and
specials for some Gilligan's Island reunions, including Good Morning America (1982),
The Late Show (1988) and the 2004 TV Land award show, with the other surviving
cast members. In the 1990s, she was reunited with costars Bob Denver, Dawn Wells,
and Russell Johnson in cameo appearances on an episode of Roseanne. Her
relations with series star Denver were rumored to be strained, but in 2005, she
wrote a brief, affectionate memorial to him in the year-end "farewell" issue of
Entertainment Weekly.
Louise appeared as a semi-regular character in the prime-time soap opera Dallas
and made an appearance on Married... with Children. In 1985, Louise played the
second and final Taylor Chapin on the syndicated soap opera Rituals. Later film
roles included a co-starring appearance in the Robert Altman comedy O.C. and
Stiggs (1987), as well as the independently made satire Johnny Suede (1992)
starring Brad Pitt.
She was married for several years to the radio announcer/interviewer Les Crane,
with whom she had one daughter, Caprice Crane (born 1974), who became an MTV
producer and a novelist. Crane's first novel, Stupid and Contagious, was
published in 2006, and was warmly dedicated to her mother. Louise now resides in
New York City. Since 1995, she has worked as a volunteer teacher with Learning
Leaders, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing tutoring to New York
City school children. In 2007, Louise released a children's book entitled "When
I Grow Up".
Tina made four record albums, two for Concert Hall, and two for Urania Record (1958
and 1959 respectively). By far the most sought-after of these is the "It's Time
For Tina" (Concert Hall 1521). With arrangements by Jim Timmens and Buddy Weed's
Orchestra, 12 tracks include Tonight Is The Night and I'm In The Mood For Love.
Coleman Hawkins is featured on tenor sax. A version of this album is planned by
UK label Harkit Records.
Name: Tina Louise
Birth name: Tina Blacker
Born: 11 February 1934 New York City, New York, U.S.
Tina Louise (born February 11, 1934) is an American model, singer and actress.
She is best known for her role as "movie star" Ginger Grant on the TV sitcom
Gilligan's Island.
She was born in New York City, an only child and attended the Miami University
in Oxford, Ohio. She began her career as a model and nightclub singer while she
studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Her acting debut came in 1952 in the
Bette Davis musical revue Two's Company, followed by roles in other Broadway
productions as John Murray Anderson's Almanac, The Fifth Season, and Will
Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She also appeared in such early live TV dramas as
Studio One, Producers Showcase, and Appointment with Adventure.
In 1957, she and Julie Newmar appeared on Broadway in the hit musical Li'l Abner.
Her album It's Time for Tina was also released that year, with songs such as "Embraceable
You" and "I'm in the Mood for Love."
She made her Hollywood film debut in 1958 in God's Little Acre. She became an in-demand
leading lady for major stars like Robert Taylor, Richard Widmark and Robert Ryan,
often playing somber roles quite unlike the glamorous pinup photographs and
Playboy pictorials she had become famous for in the late 1950s. Further roles
followed, on Broadway and in films in Italy and Hollywood, but they failed to
accelerate her career. Among her more notable Italian film credits was the
historical epic Viva L'Italia! (1960), directed by Roberto Rossellini, that
concerned Garibaldi's efforts to unify the Italian states in 1860.
When Louise returned to the United States, she began studying with Lee Strasberg
and eventually became a member of the Actors Studio. She appeared in an early
1960s "beach movie," For Those Who Think Young, with Bob Denver, prior to the
development of Gilligan's Island.
In 1964, she left the Broadway musical Fade Out - Fade In to portray movie star
Ginger Grant on the TV sitcom Gilligan's Island, after the part was turned down
by Jayne Mansfield. However, she was unhappy with the role and worried that it
would typecast her. The role did make Louise a pop icon of the era, and in 2005
an episode of TV Land Top Ten ranked her #2 as television's all-time sex symbol,
second only to Heather Locklear.
After the series ended in 1967, Louise continued to work in films and made
numerous guest appearances in various television series. She appeared as a
doomed suburban housewife in the original The Stepford Wives (1975), and both
the film and her performance were well received. She attempted to shed her
comedic image by essaying grittier roles, including a guest appearance as a
pathetic heroin addict in a 1974 Kojak episode, as well as a co-starring role as
an evil Southern prison guard in the 1976 ABC TV Movie Nightmare in Badham
County. Her other TV movies of the period included Look What's Happened to
Rosemary's Baby (1976), SST: Death Flight (1977), and Friendships Secrets and
Lies (1979).
Despite this success, she has declined to participate in any of the four reunion
television movies for Gilligan's Island, but did appear on a few talk shows and
specials for some Gilligan's Island reunions, including Good Morning America (1982),
The Late Show (1988) and the 2004 TV Land award show, with the other surviving
cast members. In the 1990s, she was reunited with costars Bob Denver, Dawn Wells,
and Russell Johnson in cameo appearances on an episode of Roseanne. Her
relations with series star Denver were rumored to be strained, but in 2005, she
wrote a brief, affectionate memorial to him in the year-end "farewell" issue of
Entertainment Weekly.
Louise appeared as a semi-regular character in the prime-time soap opera Dallas
and made an appearance on Married... with Children. In 1985, Louise played the
second and final Taylor Chapin on the syndicated soap opera Rituals. Later film
roles included a co-starring appearance in the Robert Altman comedy O.C. and
Stiggs (1987), as well as the independently made satire Johnny Suede (1992)
starring Brad Pitt.
She was married for several years to the radio announcer/interviewer Les Crane,
with whom she had one daughter, Caprice Crane (born 1974), who became an MTV
producer and a novelist. Crane's first novel, Stupid and Contagious, was
published in 2006, and was warmly dedicated to her mother. Louise now resides in
New York City. Since 1995, she has worked as a volunteer teacher with Learning
Leaders, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing tutoring to New York
City school children. In 2007, Louise released a children's book entitled "When
I Grow Up".
Tina made four record albums, two for Concert Hall, and two for Urania Record (1958
and 1959 respectively). By far the most sought-after of these is the "It's Time
For Tina" (Concert Hall 1521). With arrangements by Jim Timmens and Buddy Weed's
Orchestra, 12 tracks include Tonight Is The Night and I'm In The Mood For Love.
Coleman Hawkins is featured on tenor sax. A version of this album is planned by
UK label Harkit Records.