Alan Hale Jr. Visitor-Starred In A ’60s Fantasy Collection With An Oscar Winner

Like so many character actors of his period, Alan Hale Jr. spent a lot of the Nineteen Fifties and ’60s visitor starring on traditional Western TV exhibits. However the mid-Twentieth Century did not simply give us a slew of small-screen oaters. It additionally gave us the fantasy sitcom, or “magi-com” — sitcoms the place the “sit” in query concerned some kind of fantastical character being launched into an in any other case regular setting.

It began with the exploits of speaking horse “Mister Ed,” which gave rise to a number of comparable exhibits together with “I Dream of Jeannie,” “My Residing Doll,” and naturally “Bewitched.” Hale Jr. even guest-starred on America’s first fantasy sci-fi sitcom “My Favourite Martian.” However that wasn’t his solely foray into the fantasy sitcom phenomenon. In 1969, three years after “Gilligan’s Island” ended on CBS, Hale Jr. returned to the small display screen in two episodes of the Sally Discipline-starring “The Flying Nun.”

Discipline performed Elsie Ethrington/Sister Bertrille, a member of a Puerto Rico-based nun group who might take to the skies by way of a magic cornette. The present appears charmingly absurd right this moment. However this was the period of the magi-com, and a flying nun was one of many least ridiculous characters to return out of it. What’s extra, Discipline later went on to win two Academy Awards, including some retrospective status to her late-’60s fantasy sitcom.

In 1979, Sally Discipline received her first Greatest Actress Oscar for enjoying the titular union organizer in “Norma Rae.” 5 years later she took dwelling the identical award for her portrayal of an embattled Nice Despair-era matriarch in “Locations within the Coronary heart.” Although he by no means caught the eye of the Academy, Alan Hale Jr. had a equally prestigious profession. He stays one of the prolific and completed character actors of his era, and that is not even bearing in mind his beloved portrayal of Captain Jonas Grumby on “Gilligan’s Island” and its many spin-offs/follow-up movies. Seeing these two legends collectively on-screen, then, is an actual delight. That is what occurred in 1969. The 12 months after Hale Jr. joined Clint Eastwood for considered one of his most necessary Westerns, he returned to TV for 2 episodes of “The Flying Nun.” 

The present sees Discipline’s 90-pound nun arrive in Puerto Rico from Chicago, the place she learns that resulting from her slight physique and the excessive winds in San Juan, she’s in a position to float every time the wind catches her cornette excellent. All through the collection, she makes use of her uncommon present to assist others and assist the convent, whereas concurrently buoying her fellow nuns together with her upbeat, optimistic perspective.

How on earth did they give you that premise? Properly, the sitcom was based mostly on Tere Ríos’ 1965 e-book “The Fifteenth Pelican,” which featured the airborne sister in query. At a time once we’d already seen Jerry Van Dyke flip down “Gilligan’s Island” to star in a sitcom whereby he spoke to his deceased mom by way of a magical automotive, Discipline’s flying nun was truly fairly commonplace stuff.

For his transient go to to “The Flying Nun,” Alan Hale Jr. performed “Uncle” Reggie Overton Perkins in Episodes 16 and 17 of the present’s second season. A good friend of Sister Bertrille’s household from Chicago, Perkins has “misplaced three fortunes in his lifetime.” Sadly, all three of these fortunes belonged to Bertrille’s relations, making Perkins a pariah within the household. When he arrives in “The Nice On line casino Theft: Half 1,” he appears dodgy proper off the bat, suggesting the nuns usher in a surveyor in order that they may begin drilling for oil on the land the place their convent sits. Quickly, he lands a job at a close-by on line casino, and instantly installs a window permitting patrons to see the cash being counted.

This catches the attention of a scheming couple of crooks, who in the end steal $50,000 from the on line casino, although Uncle Reggie instantly turns into a suspect. In “The Nice On line casino Theft: Half 2,” Sister Bertrille makes use of her crafty to catch the true perpetrators and assist get Uncle Reggie off the hook. And sure, there’s loads of flying concerned.

1969 was the identical 12 months Hale Jr. re-teamed with Bob Denver on his post-“Gilligan’s Island” CBS collection “The Good Guys.” The present ran for 2 seasons and Hale Jr. appeared in three episodes. 5 years later, the pair reprised their “Gilligan’s Island” roles for animated collection “The New Adventures of Gilligan,” after which got here a number of “Gilligan’s Island” sequel movies, adopted by “Gilligan’s Planet,” an animated sci-fi model of the collection that would not have been misplaced among the many magi-coms of the Nineteen Fifties and 60s. In the meantime, “The Flying Nun” ran till April 1970, ending after three seasons and 82 episodes.