Natalie Schafer Biography

Natalie Schafer (November 5, 1900 " April 10, 1991) was an American actress, best known as Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell on CBS's sitcom Gilligan's Island (1964"67).

Early life and career

Born in Red Bank, New Jersey, Natalie Schafer was the eldest child of Jennie Elizabeth (née Tim) and Charles Emanual Schafer.She began her career as an actress on Broadway before moving to Los Angeles in 1941 to work in films.

Schafer appeared on Broadway in seventeen plays between 1927 and 1959, often playing supporting roles. Most of these appearances were in short-run plays, with the exceptions of Lady in the Dark (1941"1942), The Doughgirls (1942"1944), and Romanoff and Juliet (1957"1958). She was also seen in a revival of Six Characters in Search of an Author, directed by Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1955"1956). She also appeared in stock and regional productions of plays.

Schafer appeared in many films, usually portraying beautiful sophisticates, but she is best known for the situation comedy Gilligan's Island, playing the role of the millionaire's wife, Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell. She reprised her role in the made-for-TV spin-off films that were made after the show's demise, along with the animated spinoff, Gilligan's Planet, in 1982. Originally written as a humorless grande dame, Schafer worked with the writers to create a character not unlike the scatterbrain roles played in 1930s films by Mary Boland and Billie Burke. Schafer specifically suggested that the writers read the George S. Kaufman"Marc Connelly play Dulcy for its dizzy title-character.

She was a guest star on many television series, including The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse (The Sisters, with Grace Kelly, 1951), I Love Lucy (1954), Producers' Showcase (The Petrified Forest, with Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and Henry Fonda, 1955), Guestward, Ho! (1960), The Beverly Hillbillies (1964), Mayberry RFD (1970), The Brady Bunch (1974), and Phyllis (1976). In 1971"72, Schafer joined the cast of the CBS daytime-serial, Search for Tomorrow as Helen Collins, the mother of characters Wade and Clay Collins. Her final performance was given in 1990, in the television film I'm Dangerous Tonight, opposite Anthony Perkins and Corey Parker. The actress also guest-starred, opposite William Shatner, on 1960's Thriller in its first season.

Personal life

Schafer was married to actor Louis Calhern from 1934 to 1942; they had no children. Long after their divorce, the two appeared together in the 1956 film Forever, Darling. During much of the 1940s and 1950s she was romantically linked to author and playwright George S. Kaufman.

Schafer was legendarily secretive about her age, never even telling Calhern. 1912 was generally given as her birth year for many years, which few believed, yet her actual year of birth (which was not discerned until after her death) of 1900 shocked even her intimate friends. She was also a breast cancer survivor, a fact she withheld from her fans and friends.

Her investments, particularly in real estate, made her a multi-millionaire. Differing sources state that most of this fortune was bequeathed to either her Gilligan's Island co-star Dawn Wells, or to care for her dogs (Wells has not commented). Wells did reveal on the talk show Vicki!, starring Vicki Lawrence, that Schafer spent her last years living with her Gilligan's Island co-star, with Wells as her caretaker. Wells also revealed that one of Schafer's favorite things on Gilligan's Island was "falling through quicksand." The Los Angeles Times reported that Schafer bequeathed two million dollars to the Motion Picture and Television Hospital; the money was used to renovate the hospital's outpatient wing, which was renamed the "Natalie Schafer Wing."

Death

Natalie Schafer died of cancer in her Beverly Hills home, at the age of 90. She was cremated; her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean, off San Pedro's Point Fermin Light, in California.

Partial filmography

• The Body Disappears (1941)
• Reunion in France (1942)
• Marriage is a Private Affair (1944)
• Keep Your Powder Dry (1945)
• Molly and Me (1945)
• Wonder Man (1945)
• Masquerade in Mexico (1945)
• The Other Love (1947)
• Dishonored Lady (1947)
• Repeat Performance (1947)
• Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
• The Time of Your Life (1948)
• The Snake Pit (1948)
• Caught (1949)
• Payment on Demand (1951)
• Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)
• The Law and the Lady (1951)
• Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
• Just Across the Street (1952)
• The Girl Next Door (1953)
• Casanova's Big Night (1954)
• Female on the Beach (1955)
• Forever, Darling (1956)
• Anastasia (1956)
• Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957)
• Bernardine (1957)
• Back Street (1961)
• Susan Slade (1961)
• 40 Carats (1973)
• The Day of the Locust (1975)
• Beverly Hills Brats (1989)