Natalie Schafer had an aura about her — one that screamed elegance and riches. And not just because of her most famous role on Gilligan’s Island, where she played the delightfully dramatic Lovey Howell for all three seasons of the sitcom’s original run.

According to a 1965 interview with The Buffalo News, playing a character as rich and high class as Mrs. Howell wasn’t a stretch for Schafer. She gravitated toward those roles — and Hollywood agreed.

"I’ve always played rich women," Schafer said. "For some reason I look wealthy and I talk like a rich woman. It’s insidious, a luxury and a dream."

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She noted that many of her roles involved money, feathered hats, ditzy blonde lines and a small purse that always seemed to hold a lot of cash. Even on a deserted island, Mrs. Howell never let go of her love for wealth — or her pearls.

"Playing rich is supposed to make you feel very happy," Schafer said. "However, I’m not at all that way. Money doesn’t mean fun."

If she had as much money as the characters she often played, Schafer said she would use it to give back — though she wouldn't mind a little fun along the way.

"I’d do things for others," she said. "That kind of spending is fun for me.... And a yacht in which I could take six people around the Greek Islands."

Although Schafer wasn’t as wealthy as some of the characters she played, she dressed, acted, and carried herself like someone who had just stepped off a first-class cruise — not a deserted island.

That aura may be one reason casting directors kept handing her roles in luxury. Thanks in part to Gilligan’s Island, Schafer was typecast as a wealthy woman.

She may not have obsessed over pearls in real life, but the fame of Gilligan’s Island brought her something she did share with Mrs. Howell: a small fortune of her own. The island may have been make-believe, but the checks and success were very real.