Surprising Stories from the Set of Gilligan’s Island

Natalie Schafer, who played the glamorous Mrs. Howell, had a special clause in her contract: no close-ups. Producers agreed because they knew her real age—thirteen years older than her on-screen husband, Jim Backus—and wanted to maintain the illusion of a perfectly matched millionaire couple.

Her co-stars had no idea she was older and didn’t learn the truth until long after the show ended. Schafer kept her age one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets, proving that even on a sunny, silly sitcom like Gilligan’s Island, a bit of old-school studio mystery still survived.