Gilligan's Island Star Bob Denver's Second Movie Featured An Acting Legend

20th Century Studios

By the time Bob Denver shot to fame as the title character on "Gilligan's Island," James Stewart had long since been one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. As such, it must have been a thrill for a then-28-year-old Denver to appear alongside Stewart in the 1963 coming-of-age comedy "Take Her, She's Mine."

1963 was the year Sherwood Schwartz and CBS shot the ill-fated "Gilligan's Island' pilot, "Marooned." The network wasn't exactly impressed with the footage, and suddenly Denver's future as the star of their upcoming sitcom was in peril. Schwartz managed to save his series by cutting his own version of the pilot, ensuring that Denver's legacy would be forever defined by "Gilligan's Island" in the process. Had the sitcom been axed based on that less than impressive pilot, however, Denver could at least have said he'd worked with the likes of Jimmy Stewart.

At the time, Denver was known for playing Maynard G. Krebs, best friend of Dwayne Hickman's luckless teen in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." As Krebs, the actor had portrayed what proved to be the sitcom's breakout character between 1959 and 1963, and one of the earliest examples of the beatnik culture of the era being depicted in a mainstream show — a fact which almost certainly helped Denver land his role in Stewart's "Take Her, She's Mine." Not that the future "Gilligan's Island" star was featured all that prominently in the film. But the 1963 comedy was a significant entry in the young actor's filmography, marking his second film role after 1959's "A Private's Affair."

20th Century Studios

"Take Her, She's Mine" is directed by Henry Koster and written by Nunnally Johnson, who adapted Henry and Phoebe Ephron's 1961 Broadway play. The Ephrons based the play on their experience of seeing their daughter leave for college in 1958. That daughter was, of course, Nora Ephron, who would go on to write several major scripts of her own, including arguably the best romantic comedy of all time, "When Harry Met Sally." In 58, however, she was a young student who inspired a character played by Elizabeth Ashley on stage and Sandra Dee on screen.

In the film version of "Take Her, She's Mine," Dee plays Mollie Michaelson, the daughter of Los Angeles attorney Frank Michaelson (James Stewart). Frank is a conservative guy and overprotective father. As such, he isn't exactly thrilled about Mollie leaving for college on the East Coast, and even less thrilled when she leaves the country to study art in Paris. In both cases, Frank makes the trip to his daughter's colleges only to make a fool of himself. It's on his visit to Mollie's East Coast college that he encounters Bob Denver's beatnik coffeehouse crooner, who's somewhat bewildered by Frank's questions about a striptease show of which he has absolutely no knowledge.

Having played the most recognizable fictional beatnik known to mass audiences on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," Denver was well-placed to portray the house poet in "Take Her, She's Mine." He has a charmingly comedic back-and-forth with Stewart, who's mistakenly under the impression that his daughter is stripping off for the countercultural crowds at the coffeehouse.

20th Century Studios

For James Stewart, "Take Her, She's Mine" was a change of pace. The year prior, he'd starred in Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall's "How the West Was Won" and John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Henry Koster's comedy was a much more lighthearted affair that allowed Stewart to remind audiences he was more than capable of carrying a non-Western picture — though its release was almost scuppered by a decidedly unfunny development.

"Take Her, She's Mine" was released on November 13, 1963. At the same time, Bob Denver was in Hawaii filming the "Gilligan's Island" pilot. On November 22, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Both "Take Her, She's Mine" and Denver's new sitcom were impacted. The entire first season of "Gilligan's Island" featured an unintended homage to JFK in the form of a flag being flown at half-mast in the opening credits — a result of shooting the title sequence following the assassination. Meanwhile, as reported by the New York Times, 20th Century Fox recalled all 350 prints of "Take Her, She's Mine" from theaters in order to cut two scenes referencing the slain President and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

That same report noted how the film opened to "mixed reviews." Indeed, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times was merciless in his appraisal, writing, "Let's hope the screen will not be burdened for too much longer with such drivel as is in this old-hat Hollywood picture." Variety was more forgiving, calling the screen version of "Take Her, She's Mine" "an improvement over the Phoebe and Henry Ephron stage play." Those eager to see for themselves can watch the movie for free on YouTube.