16 Classic Celebrity Appearances on 'Fantasy Island'

Susan Lucci

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: Soap opera royalty as Erica Kain on All My Children (1970-2011)

The episode: "The Songwriter/Queen of the Soaps” (Season 6, 1983)

The role: Of course La Lucci appears as Gina Edwards, a soap opera actress trying to stop her evil character from coming to life.

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Tori Spelling (left) plays young orphaned Lori Shannon in a 1983 episode of "Fantasy Island."

Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Tori Spelling

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: A 1981 appearance at age 8 on TV show Vega$, produced by her hitmaker father Aaron Spelling

The episodes: "Eternal Flame/A Date With Burt” (Season 6, 1983), “God Child/Curtain Call” (Season 7, 1983)

The roles: As Fantasy Island's creator, papa Spelling may have had something to do with Tori appearing twice in one year (but in two seasons): first as Christy, a scheming little girl who cons a movie star out of his autograph, and then as Lori Shannon, who wants to ask God why her parents were killed.

Cybill Shepherd

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: Shepherd had already appeared in The Last Picture Show, The Heartbreak Kid and Taxi Driver.

The episode: "Return to the Cotton Club/No Friends Like Old Friends” (Season 6, 1983)

The role: Liz, a college friend of island guest Doreen Murphy (Markie Post!), striving to impress her old classmates at long last. With her fame waning from 1976's Taxi Driver, Shepherd's career had stalled and she needed the part. “I was so far down on anybody's list I didn't even get to be with Herve Villechaize,” she said. “It was all embarrassing.” But the appearance got her back on TV, and within two years she was starring with Bruce Willis on 1985's hit series Moonlighting.

Scott Baio

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: America already knew and loved Baio from his TV turn as the Fonz's younger cousin Chachi Arcola on Happy Days (1977-1984).

The episode: “Amusement Park/Rock Stars” (Season 2, 1979)

The role: Baio plays Rob, one of four orphaned Collins siblings (including Jimmy Baio, Scott's younger cousin, and Love Boat kid phenom Jill Whelan), determined to be rock stars to keep a social worker from splitting them up.

Ed Begley Jr.

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: With a bunch of TV and film credits already under his belt, Begley had a recurring role on Room 222 from 1969 to 1972, and a part in Battlestar Galactica in 1978.

The episodes: "The Prince/The Sheriff” (Season 1, 1978), “The Chateau/White Lightning” (Season 4, 1981)

The roles: In “The Prince,” Begley plays a commoner who meets a prince who wants to live like his average countrymen to better understand their challenges. In “White Lightning,” he's a member of the McAllister clan, which is feuding with the Scoggins clan over ownership of a moonshine recipe.

Esther Rolle

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: Rolle's unforgettable character of Florida Evans was introduced on Norman Lear's Maude (1972-1974) and then featured on Lear spinoff Good Times (1974-1979).

The episode: "Edward/Extraordinary Miss Jones” (Season 6, 1983)

The role: Rolle plays the role of Mama in LeVar Burton's fantasy (see above)

David Cassidy

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: Tiger Beat-fueled superstardom as Keith Partridge on The Partridge Family (1970-1974)

The episodes: “Unholy Wedlock/Elizabeth” (Season 3, 1980), “The Songwriter/Queen of the Soaps” (Season 6, 1983)

The roles: In “Unholy Wedlock,” Cassidy plays a young man who finds out his bride turns out to be the girl from his bachelor party cake; in “The Songwriter,” he's a pianist who travels back to Tin Pan Alley to find his grandfather's unpublished songs.

Katherine Helmond

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: A star TV turn as matriarch Jessica Tate in Soap (1977-1981) and in two guest appearances on the show's spinoff, Benson, in 1979 and 1983

The episode: "The Big Switch/The Hooker's Holiday” (Season 7, 1983)

The role: As Laura Walters, Helmond plays a wife fed up with her chauvinist husband, George (Vic Tayback), so she asks Roarke to let them walk a mile in each other's shoes.

Bob Denver (left) and Hervé Villechaize in a scene from the "Fantasy Island" episode, "The Magic Camera/Mata Hari/Valerie."

Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Photo Archives/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Bob Denver

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: The titular role on the iconic 1964-1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island

The episodes: “Eagleman/Children of Mentu” (Season 3, 1980), “House of Dolls/Wuthering Heights” (Season 5, 1982), “The Magic Camera/Mata Hari/Valerie” (Season 5, 1983)

The roles: First, how apt that America's most beloved castaway would find his way to Fantasy Island not once but three times. In “Eagleman,” Denver plays a widowed businessman who wants to become a comic book superhero to impress his estranged son. In “House of Dolls,” he's a window dresser in love with his mannequin, so he asks Roarke to bring her to life. And in “The Magic Camera,” he's a photographer whose pictures foretell the future.

Debbie Reynolds

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: A career full of high-wattage roles, including 1952's Singin’ in the Rain and 1964's The Unsinkable Molly Brown

The episode: "Goose for the Gander/Stuntman” (Season 3, 1979)

The role: She's a woman who needs to win a cooking contest to raise cash to relocate her diner, about to be razed for a highway.

Bonus trivia: In 1981, Reynolds starred in Aaron Spelling's Aloha Paradise, another guest star vehicle like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.

Sherman Hemsley

Pre-Fantasy claim to fame: Pioneering the comedic role of racist Black businessman George Jefferson on Norman Lear's All in the Family (1973-1978) as well as costarring in the Lear spinoff The Jeffersons (1975-1985)

The episode: “The Kleptomaniac/Thank God, I'm a Country Girl” (Season 6, 1982)

The role: As Fred Simpson, Hemsley wants Roarke to cure him of kleptomania.

Want more Fantasy Island?

Has this trip down memory lane made you nostalgic for more? Good news: All seven seasons of the original series (and a 1998 remake) are available to stream on Fox's free streaming platform, Tubi. See you on the beach!

Gayle Jo Carter, the former entertainment editor at USA WEEKEND magazine, has interviewed newsmakers for AARP, USA WEEKEND, USA Today, Parade, Aspire and Washington Jewish Week.