Gilligan

William "Willy" Gilligan is one of the main characters. He is a close friend of the Skipper, and first mate aboard the S.S. Minnow. Despite his accident prone nature, the Skipper often addresses Gilligan as "little buddy", demonstrating their friendship. He served with the Skipper in World War II and apparently saved his life by pushing him out of the way of a depth charge, but according to the Skipper he "didn't exactly save it [his life], You just prolonged it so you'd give me more bad luck."

Personality Profile
Gilligan's personality can be labeled as funny, sensitive, klutzy, dumb (in a funny way), and scared, due to the fact that throughout the series he is always doing clumsy and funny things, but is nonetheless thoughtful and kind. Usually, when faced with headhunters and kidnappers, Gilligan is visibly scared, though when things get serious, he has been known to display a brave streak. Gilligan sometimes doesn't understand words like "navigatable" or "gourment" and is very forgetful. Gilligan is always accident-prone, and usually disaster follows him wherever he goes. In one episode when the Skipper is trying to reconstruct the accident that maroon the castaways, it is mentioned that Gilligan lost the anchor and blowtorch overboard.

Gilligan often gets nervous around girls, especially if they try and kiss him (including Ginger and Marry Ann, who both seem to have a crush on him.

Outfits
Gilligan always wears a red long-sleeved polo shirt with a white collar, blue bell-bottom jeans, both white socks and sneakers, and a white trademark sailor hat. In Smile, You're on Mars Camera, it is said that his red shirt originally belonged to his brother.

Possessions
Gilligan brought with him to the island several things he probably kept on the S.S. Minnow, including comic books, his diary, a lucky four-leaf clover, a pocket knife and other things.

Trivia

 * Sherwood Schwartz has always answered that he intended to reveal Gilligan's first name as "Willy," but Bob Denver always insisted it was just "Gilligan." In fact, in the first episode, he is referred to as "a first mate known only as Gilligan."
 * Gilligan's birthdate is never given, but he was born in "a tiny town in Pennsylvania" on a stormy night and he is in his 30s during the show. {However, in Meet the Meteor, if Gilligan had aged 50 years, he would have been 72 - thus his age in 1966 would have been 22, which would make him too young to have been in World War II.
 * In the second episode, the Skipper alludes to the fact that he met Gilligan while they were both in the Navy.
 * Before being on the island, Gilligan was once president of the eighth grade camera club (he was the only one who owned a camera).
 * Gilligan enjoys many children's activities, such as comic books and skateboarding. He is a fan of Buck Rogers. He also has a spy ring and a boy scout handbook and a platium yo-yo and Yogi bear bottle caps
 * He has a brother whose shirt he wears during the series {He was reluctant to appear on Smile, Your on Mars Camera because he is afraid that his brother will punch him for wearing his shirt!} and a mother.
 * Gilligan once mentions that his father was short, had a mustache and wore glasses. He also claimed that he gave his father hives.
 * He graduated from a girl's high school. ( In Physical Fatness, it's said that he was expelled from his old school when he nearly started a chemical fire.)
 * He has a Mickey Moose wrist watch.
 * Two running gags are that when the castaways are about to be rescued, Gilligan always fouls things up at the last second and when Gilligan gets scared, he runs in a straight line into the forest at lighting speed {"The Invasion" and "Slave Girl"}. Another running gag is whenever Gilligan remarks - "from now on, its smooth sailing...." disaster results. a third gag is that when Ginger tries to kiss him, Gilligan knocks himself out! Another gag is Gilligan always knocks down Mary Ann's drying laundry.
 * In in the dream Sequences, Gilligan still never does anything right - in "The Sound of Quacking" Gilligan (as a town Marshal) saves a duck from the rest of the castaways-only to shoot it by mistake. In "The Sweepstakes" Gilligan is a Town Marshal who shoots Mary Ann's grandmother. In "Court-Martial" while he's throwing swords to the pirates so it'll be a fair fight, he accidentally throws his own sword. In "Lovey's Secret Admirer", as a fairy godfather, he turns Cinderella AKA Mrs. Howell into a donkey. In "Up a Bat" when Gilligan thinks he is a vampire, he tries to fly on his victims from an alcove, except he forgets that he doesn't have an alcove!
 * Ironically, the old west sets on "The Sound of Quacking" and "The Sweepstakes" are the Gunsmoke TV sets - whose series resulted in Gilligan's Island being canceled before a 4th season could be made!
 * A running gag is that whenver Gilligan swings from a vine disaster follows: In "X Marks the Spot" he swings from a roof and breaks the Castawys signal mirror;  in "Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy" he tries to following the Jungle boy on a vine but either falls backwards or lands on the seat of his pants! In the custume party episode Gillgian was tarzan...he nearly knocks himself out pounding his chest; he overtuns the castaways dinner table...and crashes into a hut wall...in other words a typical Gilligan behavior!