Natalie Schafer got her start doing Broadway plays then making the move to the big screen. Even before Gilligan's Island, she was typecast in roles as society women, or elegant, fashionable ladies. It was her role as "Eunice 'Lovey' Wentworth Howell" wife of multi-millionaire Thurston Howell III, that she was best known for. After the show ended it's run in 1967, Schafer did a few guest appearances on shows, most notably "The Brady Bunch."



Schafer had said she initially did the pilot to "Gilligan's Island" (1964), for the free trip to Hawaii. Afterwards, Schafer was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on holiday when she got a telegram from the States. She read it and burst into tears. Everyone had thought Shafer's mother (who was ill at the time) had died, and offered their condolences, but Shafer had said no she didn't die, the reason she was crying was because the pilot for "Gilligan's Island" sold, and she had to stay in Los Angeles, and couldn't move back to New York.