Actor Dwayne Hickman, best known as the star of the TV series “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis,” has died at age 87.
Hickman’s publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed his death to Fox News Digital on behalf of the late actor’s family. Boll noted that he died on Jan. 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. due to complications caused by Parkinson’s disease.
In addition to his best-known TV hit, Hickman was also on “The Bob Cummings Show” before starring as the titular Dobie Gillis, which ran for 147 episodes between 1959 and 1963. The series saw the crew-cut sporting Hickman as a 25-year-old student always trying to court the best-looking, unattainable girls from around town. His friend and co-star, Bob Denber of “Gilligan’s Island,” played his best friend, Maynard G. Krebs.
TV star Dwayne Hickman died at age 87. (The Hickman Family Archives)
In the statement announcing his death, Boll made sure to note that the date of Hickman’s death just so happened to fall on the same day as Denver’s birthday.
After the show ended, Hickman attended Loyola University where he earned a B.S. in Economics before getting back into show business with movies for A.I.P. such as “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini” with Annette Funicello and “Ski Party” with Frankie Avalon. He also starred opposite Jane Fonda and Oscar-winner Lee Marvin in the 1965 movie “Cat Ballou.”
Dwayne Hickman was good friends with “Gilligan’s Island” co-star Bob Denver. (The Hickman Family Archives)
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Meanwhile, his other TV credits include “The Lone Ranger,” “The Loretta Young Show,” “Wagon Train,” “Ironside,” “The Flying Nun,” “The Mod Squad,” “Combat,” “Ellery Queen,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Clueless.”
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Dwayne Hickman, star of “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” has died at age 87. (The Hickman Family Archives)
In the 1970s, Hickman did a stint as Entertainment Director at Howard Hughes’ Landmark Hotel in Las Vegas. He then returned to TV, this time as a network executive at CBS Television for about 10 years working on shows like “Maude,” “M*A*S*H” and “Designing Women.” He eventually got in front of the camera again for the CBS Movie of the Week, “Bring Me The Head Of Dobie Gillis,” which reunited him with Denver.
