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Dawn Wells Net Worth – The Late Great American Actress

Dawn Elberta Wells is a renowned actress from America who is popular for her acting in the classic Gilligan’s Island as Mary Ann Summers. Despite the fact she has worked in the entertainment industry since the early ’60s, the total amount of Dawn Wells net worth is considerably small.

Summary Table
Stage Name Dawn Wells
Legal Name Dawn Elberta Wells
Date of Birth October 18, 1938
Gender Female
Height 1.63 m
Net Worth USD 50.000
Salary / earning / income per year
Profession Actress
Nationality American

Table of Contents

Dawn Wells’s Profile Information

  • Legal Name & Stage Name: Dawn Elberta Wells is popularly known as Dawn Wells for shorter.
  • Date of Birth: She was born in 1938 and used to celebrate her birthday every October 18. Alas, the beautiful soul left this world on December 30, 2020.
  • Gender & Height: Dawn Elberta Wells is a legendary female actress with a height of 1.63 m.
  • Nationality: American.
  • What is Dawn Wells Best Known for? Besides her popular involvement in Gilligan’s Island, Wells is also best known for a motion picture titled The Town That Dreaded Sundown and Lover’s Knot. 
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More Details about of Dawn Wells

Dawn Wells was born in Reno, Nevada, to parents Joe Wesley Wells and Evelyn Wells. There is not much to discuss surrounding her early life, except the fact that she switches schools during college.

  • Education:
    • Reno High School
    • Stephens College (Temporary)
    • University of Washington (Graduate of 1960)
  • Personal life:
    • Dawn Wells had been married once for five years since 1962 until the divorce in 1967 with a man named Larry Rosen and they had no children together.

Dawn Wells’s Career

The next few sections present the information surrounding Dawn Wells’s career.

  • Miss Canada and Miss America
    • Dawn Wells began her career early by joining a beauty pageant contest and received her crown as a Miss Nevada before finally going for Miss America in the year 1960.
  • Dawn Wells Acting Career
    • Playing Mary Ann Summers in Gilligan’s Island is the highlight of Dawn Wells’s career which also led to several special reunion projects with other cast fellows. For more details of her acting career, she has shown her talent in The New Interns, Soulmates, Return to Boggy Creek, Super Sucker, and Forever for Now. 
  • Dawn Wells Theater Career
    • Until the year 2009, the total number of theatrical production in which Dawn Wells was involved in are reaching approximately a hundred. Began her acting in the early ’60s, she focused on her theatre career from the ’70s until the ’80s.
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Dawn Wells Net Worth

After presenting the discussion surrounding the American pageant’s personal life and professional life, we are moving into the explanation of Dawn Wells net worth and the answer of why her total wealth is considerably small.

Detail About Businesses

The American actress had been actively contributed to humanitarian acts throughout her entire life. Dawn founded the Idaho Film & TV Institute, endorsed Idaho Potatoes, created SpudFest for a film festival, founded a business named Wishing Wells Collections which focuses on creating clothing for people with disability, and had been a huge support and assist of Denver Foundation. 

Apart from this, no further details of Dawn Wells net worth from another investment or business.

Property Investment

At the time of her death, Dawn Wells was known to live in one of the health facilities in Los Angeles ever since she had medical issues and suffered dementia.

A long time before Wells’s health worsen, she mentioned in an interview that financial management for entertainers is quite difficult, especially with the fact that there is significant uncertainty on it. Just like some of her legendary peers, several decades ago they did not receive proper salary or income, unlike these days. In the same interview, Wells explained several properties investments that used to contribute to Dawn Wells net worth, including her Wyoming ranch and two estates in Nevada and Florida. It seems that those properties no longer exist when Wells had medical issues.

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Thunderbird Convertible

Despite no official information regarding the lists of Dawn Wells net worth that comes from vehicles or cars, back in the early career Wells is known to drive her classic-vintage Thunderbird convertible to the set.

Source of Dawn Wells Income

The main source of Dawn Wells net worth or salary comes from her work as an actress with some of them also resulting from her contract or deal she signed for commercials and other stuff. It is reported that Wells received a salary for the equivalent conversion of USD 50.000 during each season of The Gilligan’s Island. 

Dawn Wells net worth at time of death

As mentioned previously, Dawn Wells net worth at the time of death is considerably small at the number USD 50.000.

Why was Dawn Wells net worth so low?

The amount of Dawn Wells net worth got everyone asked question of why it was so low considering the fact that Wells had been Hollywood’s darling with decades of work since the early ’60s.

The answer to that question would be Well’s medical bills that cost almost everything she has. Into the bargain, someone had to do fundraising in 2018 through GoFundMe to help Well’s earn financial aid which resulted in approximately USD 200.000. The lovely actress was grateful for the support to regained health after the life-and-death situation when she had to undergo knee surgery. It was such a hard and inconvenient time that left Dawn Wells net worth only at USD 50.000 during her death.

On the one hand, Hollywood seems full of infinite parties, glimmering lights, luxurious lifestyles, and other marvelous things. On the other hand, there are many legendary entertainers with decades of career who fought for their lives financially and live pennilessly.

Dawn Wells’s Retirement

Dawn Wells retired at the time of her deceased two years ago with her last credits as an actress in glimpse appearances for several television shows between 2017 and 2019.

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Dawn Wells Cause of Death

It was such shattering and heartbreaking news to hear our dearest former beauty America pageant queen, Dawn Wells, passed away in the last month of 2020 at age 82 years old. Harlan Boll as her publicist officially informed that the actress’s cause of death was linked to COVID – 19. After the death of Dawn Wells, Tina Louise was the last actual cast member of Gilligan’s Island who survived until this time.

This pandemic is one of the challenging times for humankind to bear the pain of losing many beautiful souls and favorite persons unexpectedly. Some of Wells’s legendary Hollywood fellows who also passed away due to COVID – 19 are Cloris Leachman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Carol Sutton.

It was hard for us to say goodbye to the late great Actress Dawn Wells. However, if you are feeling nostalgic towards her, kindly visit Wells’s official social media which is managed by her management.