Willy Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show Gilligan's Island and its many sequels. Gilligan's full name has been a subject of debate for decades, which was finally resolved by the release of Gilligan's Island The Complete First Season on DVD in 2004. In a documentary called Before the Three Hour Tour. Sherwood Schwartz's original treatment for the series reveal that Gilligan's full name was Willy Gilligan , a name that Bob Denver sometimes gave during talk-show interviews. The documentary also reveals that Schwartz found the name Gilligan by flipping through a phone book.