Gilligan’s Island Star Jim Backus Voiced One Of Animation’s Most Famous Characters

Though he may not be a household name today, Jim Backus was a well known character actor in the mid-20th Century. Of course, his most recognizable role will forever remain Thurston Howell III from “Gilligan’s Island,” as Backus brought a suitably refined energy to the part of a New England patrician stranded alongside other societal archetypes in the South Pacific. But Backus’ career stretched far beyond three seasons of a beloved CBS sitcom. Both prior to and after becoming trapped on the Isle, for instance, he voiced the animated character Quincy Magoo, better known as Mr. Magoo — a role he played from 1949 until 1977.

The actor’s pre-Thurston Howell career was already impressive. Before “Gilligan’s Island,” Backus appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in the movie “Francis in the Navy,” although he gained far more in the way of significant recognition for putting on an acting masterclass as the Stark family patriarch, Frank Stark, in the James Dean classic “Rebel Without a Cause.” That likely would’ve gone down as his biggest non-“Gilligan’s Island” role, too, if it weren’t for the fact he voiced Mr. Magoo for some three decades.

Like Thurston Howell, Mr. Magoo was a millionaire. Unlike Thurston Howell, however, this deep-pocketed, diminutive magnate had a severe case of near-sightedness — a condition he refused to acknowledge. Created by Millard Kaufman and John Hubley for the animation studio United Productions of America, Mr. Magoo first appeared in the 1949 theatrical short “The Ragtime Bear,” which became a hit and ensured the character would stick around for a truly incredible amount of time. Indeed, the most recent “Mr. Magoo” cartoon ended in 2023, well after Backus had passed away. Still, he did voice the character for his first 30-ish years, arguably making Mr. Magoo Backus’ most important role.

In a piece for Cinema Journal title “Memories of Mr. Magoo” (via JSTOR), producer Howard Rieder recalled how, long before Jim Backus’ casting caused rewrites on “Gilligan’s Island,” the actor came to be hired for “The Ragtime Bear.” It seems co-creator John Hubley asked actor Jerry Hausner, who voiced the character of Mr. Magoo’s nephew and frequent sidekick Waldo, to help him find a suitable star. According to Rieder, Hausner remembered that Backus had arrived from New York where he was voicing the haughty playboy Hubert Updike III as part of the radio series “The Alan Young Show.” It seems the actor was playing snooty millionaires long before he set foot on Gilligan’s Isle.

According to Hausner’s recollection, Backus was “fairly well-known” as the voice of Updike, and he seemed perfect for the voice of Mr. Magoo. “We had been friends for over 20 years,” recalled Hausner (via Rieder). “I spoke to Hubley about Backus, and he wanted to meet him.” Evidently, Backus was already well-established by this point, and Hubley didn’t want to make him audition. Instead, he took him to the UPA studios and showed him character designs and storyboards. There, Backus found a personal connection to the character. As Hausner explained:

“He said, ‘My father lives in his own little world, never quite seeing things the way they really are. It isn’t that he’s nearsighted, but his whole attitude toward life is a kind of personal isolation toward the rest of the world.’ Backus mentioned that he used to do a character called the Man in the Club Car. It was the character of the businessman, the tycoon, the loudmouth talker (…) He began to use this voice and it was the voice that ultimately became Mr. Magoo.”

After making his debut as Mr. Magoo in “The Ragtime Bear,” Jim Backus went on to voice the character in multiple theatrical cartoons and the 1960s syndicated TV series “Mister Magoo.” He returned to voice the character in multiple TV specials, along with two follow-up series: “The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo,” which aired between 1964 and ’65, and “What’s New, Mr. Magoo?” in 1977.

Over the course of his multiple films and series, the character evolved from a mean-spirited, irascible toff to a senescent, lovable buffoon. The comedy arose from his inability to recognize the often precarious and dangerous situations into which he frequently stumbled due to his near-sightedness. And while those around him were perpetually stressed by his near-misses, due to sheer luck, Mr. Magoo always seemed to come out unscathed.

Backus gave voice to this miraculously lucky millionaire right up until the end of “What’s New, Mr. Magoo?” in 1977 — the year before he returned as Thurston Howell III for one of the three “Gilligan’s Island” TV movies, “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island.” Unfortunately, the actor was in bad health by the time he made a brief cameo appearance in 1981’s “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island,” and he passed away in 1989.

Mr. Magoo, however, endured. Not only did the Backus-voiced version remain part of popular culture via syndication deals, Leslie Nielsen played the character in an ill-fated 1997 live-action film that became a box office disappointment and debuted to negative reviews. More recently, a French animated series, “Mr. Magoo,” began airing in 2019 and lasted until 2023.