CBS Photo Archive/Getty; GINO / BACKGRID Tina Louise, best known for her role as Ginger onGilligan's Island, was spotted out in New York City on June 4 Louise is the show's last surviving cast member Louise has been open about her discomfort with discussing the series and has had mixed feelings about its success Tina Louiseis still a glamour girl. The 91-year-old star, best known for playing Ginger Grant onGilligan's Island, was spotted in New York City on June 4. She was wearing jeans, a black jacket and oversized black sunglasses and was carrying an umbrella. Also visible was her signature red hair. Louise played Ginger, a.k.a. "The Movie Star," onGilligan's Islandfrom 1964 to 1967. She is the only surviving cast member of the show's main cast, which included Bob Denver as Gilligan and Alan Hale Jr. as The Skipper. But she did not return for any spin-offs and sequels and has had a complicated relationship with the series andher role as Ginger. GINO / BACKGRID When Louise was cast in the series, she was appearing on Broadway in the 1964 musicalFade Out - Fade In, which starredCarol Burnett. "The CBS casting director Ethel Winant called me at the theater, 'Do you think you could play this Lucille Ball/Marilyn Monroe-type of character?' I said yes," she toldForbesin March. "I got there and the director wanted it to be a more sarcastic kind of character. And so, then I didn't even want to work on it anymore. I told him I wanted to quit." She met with the head of CBS and told him, "I didn't want to play it and I didn't think the show would be successful, changing the original idea of the character. You just can't go into people's homes and dress somebody up like a doll and then have her to be not nice." Richard Donner took over as director. "The writers started writing for what I was supposed to be doing and the show became a hit, and I enjoyed the part," Louise said. After the series ended, Louise appeared widely in film and television. On the big screen, she starred in the 1975 feminist horror classicThe Stepford Wives. On TV, her credits include episodes ofIronside,Kojak,DallasandThe Love Boat. Her most recent acting appearance was in the 2019 film Tapestry. Pre-Gilligan, Louise won a Golden Globe for the 1958 filmGod's Little Acre. She recounted her life in the 1997 memoirSunday, re-released as an audiobook in 2023. CBS Photo Archive/Getty Speaking toThe New York Timesin March, she said of her career, "I'm very grateful for all the things that have happened to me and the opportunities that I've had," while refusing to mention Gilligan's Island by name. "I'd like to be known for other things," she told the outlet. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Beginning in 1996, Louise joined Learning Leaders, a nonprofit that trained volunteers to tutor public school students and worked with kids in New York City. When the group lost its funding, she told the outlet, she began reading to children at the Upper East Side school she attended for seventh and eighth grade. Read the original article onPeople
