Tina Louise

Tina Louise married Les Crane, a radio and television host in 1966 and gave birth to their daughter, Caprice Crane, in 1970. Her marriage to Crane ended with a divorce in 1974.

She lives in New York with her daughter, Caprice Crane, also an accomplished writer.

Louise is a sitting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a life member of the Actors Studio.

Tina Louise was born Tatiana Josivovna Chernova Blacker on 11th of February 1934 in New York City, as the only child of Sylvia Horn and Joseph Blacker, both of Jewish descent. Her father owned a candy store in Brooklyn and her mother was a fashion model. Her parents divorced when Louise was four years old and thereafter was raised by her mother.

Louise is an alumnus of Scarborough High School in Westchester and Miami University in Ohio. As a teenager, she studied acting, singing and dancing under the guidance of Sanford Meisner when she enrolled in Manhattan’scoveted Neighborhood Playhouse.

She first faced in the camera as a two year old in an ad for her father’s candy store. Thereafter, she received several such roles and at one point in time decided to reject the offers to pursue studies.

Tina Louise made her stage debut in 1952 with the musical ‘Two’s Company’ and followed up the success with other Broadway productions such as ‘John Murray Anderson's Almanac’, ‘The Fifth Season’ and ‘’Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?’.

During 1950s, she also featured in live television series such as ‘Producers' Showcase’, ‘Studio One’, and ‘Appointment with Adventure’. .

By late 50s, Tina Louise has emerged as one of the leading female actors being cast opposite established stars such as Richard Widmark and Robert Taylor. In 1960, she acted in Roberto Rossellini’s Italian historical epic drama ‘Garibaldi’, which won her accolades in the Italian film industry.

The year 1964 marked a major turn in her career when she signed to play Ginger Grant in Gilligan's Island, a situational comedy, which catapulted her to the status of a pop icon of those times. She continued with the series until its end in 1967.

Post 1967, she regularly appeared in many of the films made for television. In 1975, her portrayal of a suburban homemaker destined to fate in the movie ‘The Stepford Wives’ was well appreciated.

Tina Louise’s musical album ‘It’s Time for Tina’ features 12 tracks, which include the foot tapping numbers ‘Tonight Is The Night’ and ‘I'm In The Mood For Love’.

She is also an accomplished painter with painting exhibitions at Ambassador Galleries, Gallery Stendhal and Patterson Museum of Art.

After publishing her first book ‘Sunday’, a memoir of her life in 1998, she published her second book ‘When I Grow Up’ in 2007 for children.