Bob Denver was a gifted comedic actor that, thanks to his association with the hit series "Gilligan's Island," found himself unfortunately typecast. Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom was a massive success, and its seven lead actors, although some of them previously known, became forever linked with their roles on the series. Denver was no longer an actor who played Gilligan, he was Gilligan. Many might have assumed that Denver didn't have any acting range beyond playing a bumbling dimwit like Gilligan, and the actor never had a success quite as large as he did in 1964.

It may surprise one to learn that Denver was, by all accounts, a pretty cool guy. Indeed, he was known prior to "Island" for playing the ultra-cool character Maynard G. Krebs on the sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." Maynard was also a broad, comedic character, but he was a devoted beatnik who wrote poetry,...