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Dawn Wells

Dawn Wells TV Listings

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Dawn Wells Biography

Dawn Wells
  • Birth Place: Reno, NV
  • Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 10/18/1938, Libra
  • Profession: Actor; author; producer
Dawn Wells Fast Facts:
  • Great-great grandfather was a stagecoach driver during the Gold Rush of 1849; father once owned the Las Vegas Thunderbird Hotel.
  • Planned on becoming a ballerina, but bad knees prevented her from following her aspirations. 
  • Competed in the Miss America Pageant in 1960, after having been named Miss Nevada in 1959.
  • Forayed into movies with a role in the 1964 flick The New Interns. 
  • Had bit parts in a string of TV series, such as 77 Sunset Strip and Hawaiian Eye before landing seminal role of sugary sweet castaway Mary Ann Summers on the popular '60s sitcom Gilligan's Island.
  • Performed in more than 66 theatrical productions, including the National Touring Company's production of They're Playing Our Song!.
  • Served as co-producer and star of the titular series Dawn Wells: Reel Adventures.
  • Worked for the Australian news program Midday, interviewing such actors as Julia Roberts, Eddie Murphy and Tom Hanks.   
  • Launched the Dawn Wells' Film Actors Boot Camp in Driggs, ID, in 1998, which is geared toward those with a solid acting background looking to transition from the amateur to professional world.
  • Owns her own clothing company, Wishing Wells Collections, which caters to the elderly and to people who are physically challenged.
  • Did tours of productions of the plays Love Letters and Eve Ensler's award-winning The Vagina Monologues in 2003.
  • Founder and Artistic Director of the Spud Drive in Film and Music Festival, in both Driggs, Idaho, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 
  • Serves as President of the Idaho Film and Television Institute.
    Dawn Wells Relationships:
  • Evelyn Wells - Mother
  • Larry Rosen - Ex-husband
  • Tom Irvin - Ex-significant Other

  • College:
  • Stephens College, Columbia, MO (AA); University of Washington, Seattle, WA (BA in Theater, 1960)
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