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Tina Louise (born February 11, 1934) is an American film and television actress.
She was born Tina Blacker, an only child, in New York City, and attended Miami University. She started her career as a model and nightclub singer while she studied at the Actor's Studio.
In 1957, she and Julie Newmar, both around 6' tall, made their Broadway debuts in Li'l Abner. Her album It's Time for Tina was also released that year, with songs such as "Embraceable You" and "I'm In the Mood for Love."
She made her Hollywood film debut in 1958 in God's Little Acre and was groomed for a career as a dramatic actress. Further roles followed, on Broadway, and in films in Italy and Hollywood, but they failed to accelerate her career and in 1964 she joined the cast of the television series Gilligan's Island.
As movie star Ginger Grant, Louise finally achieved a level of fame and recognition, however she was unhappy with the role and worried that it would typecast her, which it apparently did.
After the series ended in 1967, she continued to work in films and made numerous guest appearances in various television series.
She appeared as a doomed suburban housewife in the original The Stepford Wives (1975), and both the film and her performance were well received.
Despite this success, she languished in secondary roles and in later years blamed her lack of credibility as an actress on the typecasting that had followed her success with Gilligan's Island, a program she had grown to detest.
She has not participated in any reunion specials or other events related to the series. She did appear as a semi-regular character in the 1980s prime-time soap opera Dallas for a period, and even made an appearance on Married...with Children.
In 2005, it was announced that Louise will join the cast of the soap opera Passions in the role of Helen Winthrop in the spring.
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