Natalie Schafer

Most of these appearances were in short-run plays, with the exceptions of Lady in the Dark (1941-1942), The Doughgirls (1942-1944), and Romanoff and Juliet (1957-1958). She was also seen in a revival of Six Characters in Search of an Author, directed by Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1955-1956). She also appeared in stock and regional productions of plays.

Schafer appeared in many films, usually portraying beautiful sophisticates, but she is best known for the situation comedy Gilligan's Island, playing the role of the millionaire's wife, Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell. She reprised her role in the made-for-TV spin-off films that were made after the show's demise, along with the animated spinoff, Gilligan's Planet, in 1982. Originally written as a humorless grande dame, Schafer worked with the writers to create a character not unlike the scatterbrain roles played in 1930s films by Mary Boland and Billie Burke. Schafer specifically suggested that the writers read the George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly play Dulcy for its dizzy title-character. Read Less