American actor in film and TV, a comedian best known for his role in two TV comedy series. Adept at portraying characters with eccentric personalities, he played Maynard G. Krebs, a worldly-wise, goateed beatnik who responded to any mention of labor with a falsetto screech, “work!” in “The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis,” 1959. Dobie Gillis ran four seasons and he took off a year before reappearing as the befuddled Gilligan in “Gilligan’s Island” 1964-67. The series was a hit for three years before phasing into endless reruns.
Denver made four marriages and produced five kids, with homes in Hawaii and in Las Vegas. He and his fourth wife, Dreama, were married in 1978. Their son Colin was born in 1984, severely brain-damaged whom they care for at home.
On 6/03/1998, Denver was arrested for possession of marijuana at his home in Princeton, WV after narcotics officers intercepted a package sent in the mails, with the help of drug-sniffing dogs. He claimed no knowledge of who would send him such a gift. On 8/27/1998 he pleaded no contest to drug possession and began six months of probation.
The 70-year-old actor underwent quadruple heart-bypass surgery in May 2005.
He died on September 2, 2005 at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in North Carolina from complications of cancer treatments
Link to Wikipedia biography