Gilligan's Island Star Alan Hale Jr. Appeared In A Classic Clint Eastwood Western Movie

Alan Hale Jr.'s Captain Jonas "Skipper" Grumby is an integral part of the timeless humor of "Gilligan's Island." The irritable yet lovable character is one of the most reliable comedic engines of the iconic series, being able to serve as both a straight man and comic relief as the situation requires. The show's enduring legacy means that the Skipper will likely forever be Hale's best-known role, and, as such, it's easy to forget that "Gilligan's Island" was actually just a small part of his résumé.

Hale was a seasoned acting veteran by the time he joined "Gilligan's Island" and he continued to act after the series was over. He appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including in various Westerns: Hale plied his trade in "Hang 'Em High," the notable 1968 Clint Eastwood film. He plays Matt Stone, one of several men who wrongly accuses Eastwood's Jedediah Cooper of cattle rustling. When Jed becomes a marshal, he sets out for revenge on the men who almost had him killed.

"Hang 'Em High," which you can stream for free, was actually Clint Eastwood's first starring role in an American feature film. This makes the fact that Alan Hale Jr. was in it a fun little trivia nugget. If you're looking for an extra piece of trivia to impress your friends with, in 1962, Hale appeared in the "Rawhide" Season 4 episode "The Woman Trap" as a wagon master. This means that "Hang 'Em High" was the second time he and Eastwood worked on the same project.

In "The Woman Trap," the drovers hit it off with a group of young women who are on their way to Fort Worth to marry homesteaders, but things get serious when one of them is found dying. After discovering the truth about what happened, Eastwood's Rowdy Yates is taken hostage alongside Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) and Hey Soos (Robert Cabal). "Rawhide" is where Eastwood got his start, and it was actually this classic Western series that made Eastwood want to become a director.

While his connection to Eastwood is interesting, in reality, Hale was a man of many roles: Over the course of his decades-long career, he appeared in over 200 movies and TV series, and only a handful of them are related to "Gilligan's Island." His other notable television credits include "Gunsmoke," "The Littlest Hobo," "The Love Boat," "Murder, She Wrote," "Magnum, P.I.," "ALF," and "Growing Pains."