Some things you just can't shake. For Russell Johnson, it was his role as The Professor on Gilligan's Island. While most of the cast of castaways was pretty forthcoming about how much the show followed them everywhere they went, Johnson was particularly outspoken about the famous show's fallout.

"That series has affected my life every day since," Johnson said in a 1997 interview with the Toronto Star.

He didn't mince words when discussing the series that defined his life as an actor. While he'd had a long and little-known career before his time on the beloved sitcom, Gilligan's Island is how most people identified Russell Johnson. It was the role that crossed over into the pop culture zeitgeist more than any of his prior work.

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"It's a tough, funny little show and it just won't go away," he said. "And now we have a president [Bill Clinton] who watched growing up. right along with the rest of the baby boomers."

So, it might be surprising to learn that Johnson and his wife spent their days on an actual island. Despite the similarities to what became his life's great burden, Johnson was basically a castaway later in life all over again. The irony wasn't lost on him.

"Today, I live on an island," said Johnson. "Old habits die hard."

In his book, Here on Gilligan's Isle, Johnson explained what it was like living where he did.

"So here's the Professor and his wife living on an inhabited island in Puget Sound in a beautiful home surrounded by a wooded heaven, where deer come right up to our patio door. Above the mantel is a gift from [series producer] Sherwood Schwartz: a masterfully matted and framed portrait in glorious color of the seven stranded castaways."