Louise's 1959 trio of films came in the wake of her 1958 film debut in Anthony Mann's "God's Little Acre." These four films comprise the most valiant attempts by Tina Louise to establish herself as a leading lady in Hollywood movies. Both films were released in 1959, along with Andre de Toth's western "Day of the Outlaw" starring Robert Ryan. Olive Films, which has been releasing titles from the Paramount library, recently released on DVD and Blu-Ray two of Tina Louise's earliest films: the noir-ish, modern-day western melodrama "The Trap" starring Richard Widmark, and the Michael Curtiz-directed western "The Hangman" starring Robert Taylor. Louise's films are now available digitally. However, in recent years, because of the ever-expanding DVD and Blu-Ray market, which has allowed lesser-known titles in studio catalogues to finally gain the exposure they deserve, many of Ms. In addition, some of her best work were in TV movies and episodic guest appearances in the 1970s after "Gilligan's Island," when she made a conscious effort to try and challenge herself by taking character roles that went against her presumed image. One of the reasons why it is challenging to build the case for Tina Louise being an underrated actress is because her films, for many years, were difficult to get ahold of on DVD and rarely played on cable. Dalton demonstrated, to me anyway, that she was a lazy actress who ignorantly assumed that that was indeed how Ms. It was obvious upon first-viewing that Dalton never did her research: she performs the scenes where Tina Louise is off-stage and off-camera in the same breathy and breathless "Ginger" voice that Ms. (Which is why Kristen Dalton's performance as Tina Louise in the 2001 CBS TV movie "Surviving Gilligan's Island" never seemed credible to me. She has an under-appreciated ability to manipulate her voice to sound like completely different people from project-to-project. In many of her other acting roles, she speaks with a deep and resonant voice that demonstrates gravitas and maturity. The breathy and breathless Ginger Grant voice that she used on "Gilligan's Island" was merely an acting affectation. (Whether she was attracted to these roles, or these roles sought her out, might be worth discussing in a much longer dissertation someday.) I think that the versatile range of her speaking voice remains one of her most unique qualities. Her roles are more interesting and nuanced than she is given credit for-she has often played sad beauties who are trapped in unhappy lives. She really does have a mysterious and intriguing screen presence that goes beyond just her looks. You learn how to effectively build a case to convince people on any issue when you learn at an early age to advocate for Tina Louise as a versatile and talented actress instead of someone like, say, Vanessa Redgrave because people will lazily accept that as a given.) I have always felt that there is a lot more to Tina Louise than "Gilligan's Island," even though I readily acknowledge that it remains her most famous acting credit from a visibility standpoint. (I think it has made me an effective oral advocate, though. Whenever you do, you find yourself subjected to comments from people who say "Mary Ann was always hotter" or something to that effect. I admit it: Tina Louise remains my all-time favorite actress.
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