RIP Professor

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 3:50pm

http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/16/professor-gilligans-island-died-dead-russell-johnson/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D431375

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:34pm

I really enjoyed him as the Professor. Now Tina Louise and Dawn Wells are the only surviving cast-members from 'Gilligan's Island'. R.I.P Mr. Johnson.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:37pm

I had such a crush on him when I was a kid.

He'll never be 'And the rest' to me!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:46pm

RIP, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

The wikipedia page on Russell Johnson has some very interesting information -- he was a decorated veteran of WWII, as a bombardier on over 40 missions, and was something of an AIDS activist after his son died in the 1990s.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:49pm

Sad. The professor was always the character people would associate my name with. I had so many people make jokes about it when I was younger.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:50pm

He was 89?

I always loved him!

Wow, big parts of my childhood are lost today.

RIP, Professor. Thanks for the memories.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 4:59pm

Aw, crap. Makes me sad.

I never met Russell, but I have a strange, wonderful, surreal story about him. He spent these past decades living up on Bainbridge Island, where my mother lived, off the coast of Seattle. Yes, the Professor lived on an island.

I would go up to visit Mom and my many cousins who also live on the island, and every now and then I would see Russell in town (at a restaurant or shop, etc.). It's not a big island.

One Christmas, there was a really bad blizzard (which was rare up there), and on the day I was leaving to go back to Los Angeles, I got on the ferryboat to make my way back to Seattle (a 30-minute ride), and there was Russell Johnson sitting two tables away from me in the cafeteria area. There were only about 20-30 people on that boat (usually there are hundreds).

Suddenly, the boat started rocking and the waves were really high. It was cold enough that the waves would splash up on the windows (about 30 feet!) and freeze the moment they hit the glass. It was weird and more than a bit scary.

But as we were rocking and being told to take our seats over the intercom system, all I kept thinking was "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed ..."

Here I was on a small boat in the middle of the water during a storm with the Professor from Gilligan's Island. It was not a good sign ... but it did make me laugh.

Incidentally, they cancelled all remaining boats that day after we left the island. Ours was the last one off before the big storm hit.

But I will always remember my boat ride with the Professor that Christmas.

[kec]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 5:22pm

Cool story Best12Bars. Very sad about this news, and I just saw that Dave Madden has passed as well.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 6:49pm

I don't know why I was surprised to hear he was as old as he was. I guess I always thought of him as the quietly handsome Professor.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 7:00pm

I had the same reaction, Reg!
89?!
He will always be that handsome Professor who just never figured out how to patch a boat.

Updated On: 1/16/14 at 07:00 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 11:30pm

A friend posted on FB:

Decades later I read his memoir, "Here on Gilligan's Isle", and I learned that his only son, David (also Russell Johnson's middle name), was gay, had contracted AIDS, and became an activist in LA to his dying day in 1994. Johnson rallied for understanding, compassion and action, himself taking on the work of volunteer (at APLA, I believe). Reading that, my heart swelled all over again. In a completely different way. Rest well, my beloved Professor.

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 9:09am

Just the other day, I was on a Sherwood Schwartz kick, watching GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and THE BRADY BUNCH. I was just thinking about how he, Wells, and Louise were the only remaining cast members. Rest in peace, Mr. Johnson.

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 9:34am

What a wonderful man. May he rest in peace.

Thanks for sharing that very amusing story, Besty. What a great memory!