Dwayne Hickman, as Dobie, and Tuesday Weld, as Thalia Menninger, from The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

The fictional character of Dobie Gillis was an average American teenager with three primary interests: girls, girls, and girls. Actually, Dobie was all in favor of having wads of money and owning spiffy automobiles, as well. But mainly he was obsessed with the opposite sex.

Dobie was the creation of writer Max Shulman (1919–1988), who first published Dobie stories in humor magazines in 1945. The character appeared on screen in The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), a musical comedy starring Bobby Van (1928–1980) as a college-aged Dobie. The most fondly remembered Dobie, however, was played by Dwayne Hickman (1934–) on the television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) sitcom (see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959–63). Here, Dobie was a high school student...