Actress Dawn Wells, who was best known for her role as castaway Mary Ann on the classic sitcom "Gilligan's Island," died today from complications arising from COVID-19, according to her publicist.
Wells reported "passed peacefully this morning, in no pain, as a result of complications due to COVID," Harlan Boll, her publicist wrote on social media.
“With over 540,000 fans on her Facebook page and fan clubs across the U.S., her following has remained faithful,'' Boll wrote. “Dawn would say that Mary Ann fits today just as she fit three generations ago, because she is timeless. In a world where the industry and society has been celebrating their 'bad girls,' Mary Ann continues to be, for man, the breath of fresh air as the `good girl.'''
Born in Reno, Nevada, Wells appeared as Miss Nevada in the 1959 Miss America Pageant before she moved to Hollywood to try and make it as an actor. She appeared on several classic shows, including "Bonanza," Maverick" and "77 Sunset Strip."
She shot to international fame after being cast as one of the castaways on Sherwood Schwartz's "Gilligan's Island". The show, which ran for three season, inspired a cult-like status among TV fans, and was also spun off into a series of made-for-TV movies.
Boll wrote that Wells' estate requests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in name to The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum or The Shambala Preserve
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