CBS Executive Demanded to See Russell Johnson in His Underwear Before Casting Him As Professor on ‘Gilligan’s Island’

Russell Johnson thought he was going to be Dr. Ben Casey.

The TV veteran was about to make the leap from frequent guest star on westerns to the lead role in an ongoing series. Ben Casey’s producer liked his audition but went with Vince Edwards instead, Johnson wrote in his memoir, Here on Gilligan’s Isle. That freed him up to audition for other series.

The show he didn’t want to land was Gilligan’s Island. As Ben Casey, Russell would have been the star of a hit medical drama. As a comedy castaway, he would have been one of an ensemble of seven. That’s why he kept refusing to try out for the sitcom’s producer, Sherwood Schwartz. 

Eventually, Johnson relented, showing up on a soundstage to read a five-minute scene with Alan “The Skipper” Hale. (Raquel Welch was there too, trying out for Mary Ann.) The audition went well enough, and Johnson needed the money. He agreed to sign a holding contract with the producers, and the Gilligan powers-that-be pegged Johnson as the island’s Professor. 

But Johnson didn’t quite have the role in the bag yet. He had to meet with an old friend, Ethel Winant, the head of casting for CBS and a “tough cookie” during a time when few women executives worked in the business. When the two met to seal the deal, Winant laid it on the line.

“Look, Russell, I’ve got to talk to you. Hunt Stromberg wants to see you in his office, and he wants you stripped down to your shorts.”

Johnson’s appropriate response: “What the hell does that mean?”

“Hunt wants to see what you look like, so he can make a final decision.”

Stromberg was a muckety-muck at CBS famous for supervising hit comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan’s Heroes and Green Acres. He also, allegedly, required tests of his comedy stars in their tighty-whities. Johnson claimed he’d heard about other actors who had to film audition scenes in their underwear.

Schwartz asked Johnson to appease Stromberg in any way possible, but Johnson didn’t want the job that badly. He told Winant to forget it. “Look, I’m a serious actor,” he told her. “You know me. I’m not interested in that. I’m fit. I’ve got a good body.” Despite her efforts to set up the topless test, Johnson declined. 

Finally, Winant came up with a compromise. If Johnson came to her office and peeled off his shirt, she’d give Stromberg the thumbs up, and he could get the job. Once Johnson got bare-chested in Winant’s office, however, she asked for one final favor. She snapped a Polaroid of the Professor’s pecs for Stromberg’s perusal — and that was that. 

Johnson is either being coy or naive when he explained the intentions behind the picture. “I think the main concern was whether or not CBS wanted the Professor to have some sex appeal or not to have any sexual allure at all,” he wrote. “It was a matter of smooth chest or hairy chest, I think.”

Considering that the Professor never removed his shirt on Gilligan’s Island, it might have been a matter of procuring a provocative Polaroid.