Alan Hale Jr. dressed as the Skipper to visit a terminally ill boy
Hale himself was a cancer sufferer. It would take his life early, at age 68 in Los Angeles. Before that, however, Hale once donned his Skipper costume to visit a boy in the hospital, dying of cancer himself. That boy loved the show. A visit from the Skipper would have been one of the last joyous moments in his life.