“Gilligan’s Island” isn’t exactly known for its sophisticated humor. The show was a light-hearted sitcom about castaways who somehow never managed to escape their isolated locale despite multiple guests visiting them throughout their three-season run. “Gilligan’s Island” was nonsense, but it knew what it was and fully embraced its silliness. As a result, it became a beloved TV classic, especially since it became widely syndicated after its final season wrapped up in 1967.
But for all its absurdity and campiness, the show did at least try to provide somewhat of a balance, most notably in the form of Jim Backus’ Thurston Howell III and his wife, Natalie Schafer’s Mrs. Thurston. The billionaire couple were envisioned as a way to break up the slapstick humor provided by Bob Denver’s Gilligan and Alan Hale Jr.’s Skipper, and certainly brought an air of refinement to an otherwise ridiculous sitcom. Much of that was down to Backus himself, who by the time he was cast on the show had become an illustrious star in his own right.
“Gilligan’s Island” creator Sherwood Schwartz was lucky to have an actor of his pedigree onboard, especially since Backus remained a part of the “Gilligan’s Island” universe for decades after the original show wrapped up. The actor not only voiced his character in two “Gilligan Island” animated series that most people forgot about, “Gilligan’s Planet” and “The New Adventures of Gilligan,” he appeared on all three TV movies based on the series: “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island,” “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island,” and, of course, “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island,” to which Backus contributed a brief cameo due to his personal health deteriorating.
The importance of Backus to “Gilligan’s Island” certainly wasn’t lost on Schwartz, either. The show creator had to jump through numerous hoops in order to get his number one pick for the role of Thurston Howell III, and remained grateful for Backus’ presence.
Sherwood Schwartz wrote Thurston Howell III with Jim Backus in mind
Before it made it to air, “Gilligan’s Island” was a different show to the one audiences came to love. For one thing, the original “Gilligan’s Island” castaways included two very different characters. What’s more, someone other than the great Jim Backus almost played Thurston Howell III. In the book “Inside Gilligan’s Island: From Creation to Syndication” Sherwood Schwartz explains how he wrote the role of Howell with Backus in mind — perhaps because Backus had made a name for himself playing such elitists. The actor landed his first major role when he played millionaire named Dexter Hayes in the 1940 radio serial “Society Girl,” before taking on one of his best-known roles as the voice of eccentric cartoon millionaire Mr. Magoo, beginning in 1949. Whatever the reason, Schwartz had seemingly decided on Backus for the role of Thurston Howell III long before “Gilligan’s Island” reached the casting stage. However, there were some major issues to overcome in order for Schwartz to get his man.
The showrunner writes about how, since Gilligan and the Skipper provided “the broad slapstick comedy,” it was crucial to balance their absurd antics with “wit and satire, comedy of an entirely different sort.” Thurston Howell III was the answer, and as the show creator recalled, Backus was the ideal man for the job. But the actor proved tough to pin down. As Schwartz remembered it, “Jim had done a pilot film many months earlier and was still contractually obligated to keep himself available.”
What’s more, money became an issue. Having become a well-established star in his own right, Backus was essentially too expensive for “Gilligan’s Island” and its modest CBS budget. That prompted Schwartz to briefly look elsewhere, with the show creator writing:
“We had found two good character actors who could play the part of Thurston Howell III. Both were good, but neither could give the part the sort of perfection that Jim alone could bring to that role. Neither one had the Thurston Howell III voice I heard in my head, or the face I pictured on the screen. But since I had to assume Jim was simply unavailable, we began negotiating with the two alternatives.”
Thankfully, during these negotiations Schwartz and his show caught a break.
Securing Jim Backus for Gilligan’s Island came down to the wire
Though Jim Backus eventually wound up playing Thurston Howell III in “Gilligan’s Island,” things really did come down to the wire. In Sherwood Schwartz’s book, the showrunner explained how Backus suddenly became available during negotiations with other actors, but at the time the production was six days away from leaving for Hawaii to shoot the pilot. Schwartz wrote, “On that date, the option on Jim for the other series ran out, and Jim’s agent, Tom Korman, phoned me. Was the role still available? The answer was yes. But it was a qualified yes.”
Just because Backus was suddenly free, didn’t mean CBS was going to hand over the money to get him, leaving Schwartz in somewhat of a bind — especially as he’d need to double the salary attached to the role in order to secure his friend. Luckily, it just so happened that CBS programming executive Hunt Stromberg Jr. was a Jim Backus fan. Schwartz wrote:
“I phoned Hunt at CBS and told him Jim Backus had suddenly become available. Would CBS come up with the extra money? Money above and beyond the call of budget? With no hesitation, Hunt spoke for CBS ‘Jim is perfect. You’ve got the extra money.'”
That wasn’t the end of Schwartz’s Thurston Howell III issues, however. Once he was cast on “Gilligan’s Island,” Backus’ presence forced last-minute rewrites as his character had been given a minor part in the pilot script. “It became a major role only after I found out Jim was available,” wrote Schwartz. As such, the show creator felt he had to keep the pilot script from his esteemed new recruit until he could rewrite it. “There was no way I would show that script to Jim Backus,” wrote Schwartz. “He wouldn’t take the part. He was a man used to important starring roles. I don’t think Thurston Howell III had more than ten or eleven lines in the original ‘Gilligan’s Island’ script.” How did Schwartz get around the problem? Well, according to the showrunner, it went like this: “‘Do you expect me to sign a contract to star in a series without reading the script?’ asked Jim. ‘Yes,’ I answered. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘since you put it that way, okay.'”