One Of Gilligan's Island's Best Guest Stars Was Played By This Legendary Western Actor

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"Gilligan's Island" boasted some of the most prolific character actors of its era. Both The Skipper actor Alan Hale Jr. and The Professor actor Russell Johnson had appeared in just about every high-profile series of the 1950s and '60s by the time they were cast in Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom, including guest spots on "Rawhide" and "Gunsmoke." But even these experienced performers couldn't match the expansive filmography of Strother Martin, who guested on "Gilligan's Island" during its final season. For many, a spot on one of the most popular sitcoms of the era would have been a fairly big deal. For Martin, it was all in a day's work.

By the time he arrived on "Gilligan's Island," Martin had amassed an impressive filmography that had seen him work with the greats of his age. He started out in the early 1950s, and quickly landed roles in many of the big shows of the decade. As you might expect given the Oater's popularity at the time, that means Martin added multiple Western credits to his filmography. We're talking several "Gunsmoke" episodes, "Have Gun will Travel," "Trackdown," and even one of the best Western shows nobody talks about anymore, "Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre." Like Hale Jr. and Johnson, Martin also appeared on "Rawhide," playing a land surveyor alongside an early career Clint Eastwood.

On the film side, Martin earned credits for 1958's "Cowboy" and John Ford's "The Horse Soldiers," and could be seen in everything from the film noir classic "Kiss Me Deadly" to the debut of Disney's first cinematic universe in 1959 "The Shaggy Dog." If he'd have stopped there, he would have retired with a better filmography than most of his peers. But the 1960s beckoned, as did the shores of Gilligan's Isle.

Strother Martin played a game show contestant on Gilligan's Island

Like the decade prior, the 1960s were full of highlights for Strother Martin, who would play perhaps his best known role as the prison captain in 1967's "Cool Hand Luke." That same year he visited the castaways in a much less serious role when he appeared in the "Gilligan's Island" Season 3 episode "Take a Dare."

The actor plays George Barkley, a man who has sequestered himself on the island as part of a game show that rewards people with cash for putting themselves in tough situations. In Barkley's case, he marooned himself for a week in order to win $10,000. But the whole thing is thrown into jeopardy when he's discovered by the castaways. For them, Barkley represents yet another chance of rescue. But if the game show finds out he's not alone, he loses his money. That prompts Barkley to do all he can to keep the castaways a secret, including stopping them from using his two-way radio.

The whole episode comes to a delightfully ridiculous close when the castaways hatch a plan to keep a lookout for the boat being sent to collect Barkley, only for Gilligan to fail to report its arrival when the game show sends a helicopter instead. It's one of the best "Gilligan's Island" episodes, with Martin making for a great guest in what was yet another high-profile guest spot for the prolific character actor. After his appearance on the show, he remained busy, leaving the island and returning once again to the Old West.

Strother Martin added yet more legendary Western credits to his résumé after Gilligan's Island

After "Gilligan's Island" Alan Hale Jr. appeared in one of Clint Eastwood's most important Westerns with 1968's "Hang 'Em High." Russell Johnson returned to "Gunsmoke" for a couple episodes, and Bob Denver fronted the "Gilligan's Island" Western knockoff "Dusty's Trail." But none of them could match Strother Martin when it came to post-"Gilligan's Island" Western projects.

1969 gave us several movies that defined Western history, and Martin was in most of them. He played a bounty hunter in Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch," a mine boss in George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and a horse dealer in Henry Hathaway's John Wayne-led "True Grit." The latter wasn't the first time he'd appeared alongside Wayne, either. Martin acted opposite the Duke in 1963's "McLintock!," which debuted the same year "Gilligan's Island" first aired on CBS. He also appeared in the film IMDb rates as John Wayne's best Western, 1962's "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance," and ultimately worked with the Western icon a total of six times.

What's more, with his appearance in "The Wild Bunch," Martin continued a longstanding collaboration with Peckinpah, who wrote the 1956 "Gunsmoke" episode in which Martin first guest-starred, "Cooter." Western roles just kept coming after that, with Martin even showing up in the offbeat 1970s Western "Nichols" before going on to return to "Gunsmoke" by way of "Bonanza" and "The Virginian." The main cast of "Gilligan's Island" had its fair share of seasoned Western actors, but Martin truly was a legend of Hollywood's Old West.