Tina Louise's Gilligan's Island Salary Was Shockingly Low, With No Residuals

If you are a main cast member of a long-running network television show in 2025 (i.e. a series that runs somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 episodes per season), you should be set for life financially once the syndication deal kicks in (provided you invest wisely and don't develop a $1,500-a-day Fabergé egg habit). This is the dream for many working actors, who, if they so choose, can use the freedom they've earned from a successful series to work on less lucrative projects that satisfy their artistic cravings.

If you're wondering about how this all worked back in the day, network television gigs have always been pretty cushy gigs. For the most part. So when you watch old episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Andy Griffith Show," and "My Mother the Car," you can be fairly certain the folks in front of the camera are pulling down a very comfortable wage. There are, however, exceptions.

Though it would wind up becoming a syndication smash and a pop cultural touchstone, Sherwood Schwartz's zany sitcom "Gilligan's Island" only lasted three seasons on CBS (it was cancelled to spare the broadcast life of "Gunsmoke"). It was hardly a prestigious piece of the network's weekly programming slate, but it performed well in the ratings and was blissfully inoffensive you'd think CBS would fairly compensate the show's performers. According to Tina Louise, who achieved television immortality as the kind-hearted movie star Ginger, the network did anything but.

In a recent interview with Forbes, the 91-year-old Louise revealed that she earned $1,500 per episode over her three seasons on "Gilligan's Island." To be clear, this ain't poverty. In 2025, this would amount to $15,194 per episode, which, for the 36-episode first season, would've set her up with $546,984 for less than a year's work. This isn't high-roller money by any means, but it is more than enough to afford decent accommodations in Los Angeles.

When it came to residuals, however, CBS apparently did Louise dirty. She told Forbes that she never received a cent in residuals, which had to burn when the show became a syndication favorite of undemanding couch potatoes wherever it aired.

She did fare better than Dawn Wells, who lacked Louise's pre-"Gilligan's Island" notoriety (which included a Golden Globe win for her performance in Anthony Mann's "God's Little Acre"). For her portrayal of Mary Ann, Wells received only $750 per episode. Again, this isn't bad money per se. In 2025, Wells would've earned $270,000 for the first season, which is a pretty good income as far as Los Angeles goes.

Does Louise have any advice for young actors starting out in the business today? She does, and it's terrific advice if you're okay with struggling to make ends meet. According to Louise, you should do a play. "Don't be worried about getting money from that," she told Forbes. "You'll have to have another job of some kind, but I would say to be seen, whether you made money or not, do a play. Just do something you have to do every single night. I think you bloom better starting on the stage. That's what I did."

Obviously, if that play is on Broadway or in a prominent off-Broadway theater, you'll make a decent amount of money. If, however, it's a two-week run in a community theater production, you'll pull down as much as Louise received in "Gilligan's Island" residuals.