Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead, August 23, 1931)[1] is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer, best known for her starring role of "Jeannie" in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
== Early years ==
Eden was born in 1931 in Tucson, Arizona, to Alice Mary (née-Franklin; 1915–1986) and Hubert Morehead (1911–1974).[2] For decades, her year of birth was thought to be 1934,[3][4] an age fabrication of three years. After her parents' divorce, she and her mother moved to San Francisco, where her mother married Harrison Connor Huffman, a telephone lineman, by whom she had a daughter, Eden's half-sister. The Great Depression deeply impacted the family, and as they were unable to afford many luxuries, Alice entertained her children with singing.
Eden's first public performance was singing in the church choir, where she sang the solos. As a teenager, she sang in local bands for $10 (approx. equiv. $130 in 2017) a night in night clubs. At age 16, she became a member of Actor's Equity, and studied singing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and acting with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in the Spring Class of 1949[5] and studied theater for one year at City College of San Francisco. As Barbara Huffman, she was elected Miss San Francisco in 1951 and she also entered the Miss Californiapageant.[6][7]
== Television and film roles ==
Eden began her TV career as a semi-regular on The Johnny Carson Show in 1956.[8][9] She also made featured appearances on shows such as The West Point Story, Highway Patrol, Private Secretary, I Love Lucy, The Millionaire, Target: The Corruptors!, Crossroads, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, December Bride, Bachelor Father, Father Knows Best, Adventures in Paradise, The Andy Griffith Show, Cain's Hundred, Saints and Sinners, The Virginian, Slattery's People, The Rogues, and the series finale of Route 66. She guest-starred in four episodes of Burke's Law, playing different roles each time. She was an uncredited extra in the movie The Tarnished Angels with Rock Hudson, in partnership with 20th Century Foxstudios. She then starred in the syndicated comedy TV series How to Marry a Millionaire. The series is based on the 1953 film of the same name.
Discovery in the Hollywood sense came when she starred in a play with James Drury. Film director Mark Robson, who later directed her in the movie From the Terrace, had come to the play and wanted her for 20th Century Fox studios. Her screen test was the Joanne Woodward role in No Down Payment (1957). Though she did not get the role, the studio gave her a contract. She did a screen test for the role of Betty Anderson in the 1957 film version of Peyton Place, but Terry Moore got the role. She had minor roles in Bailout at 43,000, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and The Wayward Girl, and then became a leading lady in films and starred opposite Gary Crosby, Barry Coe, and Sal Mineo in A Private's Affair. She had a co-starring role in Flaming Star (1960), with Elvis Presley.
The following year, she played in a supporting role as Lt. Cathy Connors in Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. She starred in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, a George Pal-directed Cinerama film for MGM, and another Irwin Allen production for 20th Century Fox, Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962). She was the female lead in the 1962 Fox comedy Swingin' Along, starring Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall, in their final joint screen appearance. She did a screen test with Andy Williams for the 20th Century Fox movie State Fair, but did not get the role.[10]
Her last film for 20th Century Fox was The Yellow Canary (1963). She left Fox and began guest-starring in television shows and acting in films for MGM, Universal, and Columbia. She played supporting roles over the next few years, including The Brass Bottle and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
== I Dream of Jeannie ==
Bewitched was the number two show on television in 1964, and following on its heels, in 1965, producer Sidney Sheldon signed Eden to star in his up-and-coming fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie that would air on NBC. After various brunette starlets and beauty queens unsuccessfully tried out for the role, Eden was approached by Sheldon who had seen her in The Brass Bottle and had been recommended by various colleagues. Eden played Jeannie, a beautiful genie set free from her bottle by astronaut and United States Air Force captain (later major) Anthony "Tony" Nelson, played by Larry Hagman.
Eden played this role for five years and 139 episodes. Additionally, in eight episodes, Eden donned a brunette wig to portray Jeannie's evil sister (also named Jeannie) who lusts after Tony Nelson, and in at least one episode played Jeannie's hapless mother.[11][12][13]
== Later career ==
After Jeannie, Eden did an unaired pilot, The Barbara Eden Show,[8] as well as another pilot, The Toy Game. Her first TV movie was called The Feminist and the Fuzz. Although she is best known for comedy, most of these films were dramas, as when she starred opposite her "Jeannie" co-star Larry Hagman in A Howling in the Woods (1971).
In The Stranger Within (1974), Eden played housewife Ann Collins, a woman impregnated by extraterrestrials. Later, Eden played Liz Stonestreet, a former policewoman now private detective investigating the disappearance of a missing heiress, in a critically acclaimed TV movie Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? (1977). She starred in and co-produced, with her own production company (MI-Bar Productions), the NBC TV movie romantic comedy The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick (1988). She also starred in and produced the romantic comedy TV movie Opposites Attract (1990), co-starring John Forsythe.
In 1978, she starred in the feature film Harper Valley PTA, based on the popular country song. This led to a namesake television series in 1981. In both the movie and the TV series, Eden played the show's heroine, Stella Johnson. The show won 11 of its 13 time slots during its first season. It was a comedy version of Peyton Place, with Anne Francine playing wealthy villain Flora Simpson Reilly.[citation needed] In one episode, Stella dressed in a blue and gold genie costume and in another she played both Stella and her cousin Della Smith (similar to Jeannie's evil twin-sister character). The TV series Harper Valley PTAbegan January 16, 1981, and was renamed simply Harper Valley when the show began its second season on October 29, 1981. During this time, Eden also became the spokeswoman for L'eggs pantyhose and appeared in a series of print ads and TV commercials for the brand from 1979 to 1983.[14]
From April 3 through September 16, 1984, Eden starred in the Lee Guber and Shelly Gross national production of the John Kander and Fred Ebb Tony Award-winning musical comedy Woman of the Year, playing the role of Tess Harding Craig, alongside Don Chastain (as Sam Craig), and Marilyn Cooper. In 1990, Eden had a recurring role of a billionairess seeking revenge against J.R. Ewing in five episodes of the final season of Dallas, playing the captivating character LeeAnn De La Vega, reuniting her with her I Dream of Jeannie co-star Hagman. In her final episode, the character admits that her maiden name was "LeeAnn Nelson", which was a production gag, as "Nelson" was the surname of Hagman's character and Eden's character's married name in I Dream of Jeannie. In 1991, she starred in the stage play Same Time, Next Year with Wayne Rogers, and reprised her role of Jeannie in a television movie of the week. In 1993, she starred in an 11-city national tour of the play Last of the Red Hot Lovers with Don Knotts.
Eden starred in such musical comedies as Nite Club Confidential (playing the role of Kay Goodman, in 1996), The Sound of Music, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific with Robert Goulet, The Pajama Game with John Raitt, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes playing Lorelei Lee. She has been a musical guest star in many variety television shows, including 21 Bob Hope specials, The Carol Burnett Show, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Jerry Lewis Show, This Is Tom Jones, Tony Orlando and Dawn and Donny & Marie. She released an album entitled Miss Barbara Eden in 1967 for the record label Dot Records.
From 2000 to 2004, Eden starred in the national touring production of the play The Odd Couple: The Female Version playing the role of Florence Unger opposite Rita MacKenzie as Olive Madison. In March 2006, Eden reunited with her former co-star Larry Hagman for a publicity tour in New York City to promote the first-season DVD of I Dream of Jeannie. They appeared together on Good Morning America, The View, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Martha, and Showbiz Tonight, among other shows. In March 2006, Hagman and Eden again reunited, this time onstage, in New York, for Love Letters at the College of Staten Island, and at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. This was Eden's first return visit to the United States Military Academy since appearing in the 1956 Ziv Television Programs, The West Point Story[citation needed]
Eden starred in the play Love Letters with Hal Linden in 2006, and a guest-starring role on the Lifetime series Army Wives, written and produced by her niece, Katherine Fugate. In December 2008, she began filming the TV movie Always and Forever for the Hallmark Channel, shown in October 2009.
In May 2013, Eden appeared with former US President Bill Clinton, Elton John, and Fergie at the opening ceremony of the 21st Life Ball in Vienna, where Eden wore her famous Jeannie harem costume.[15] In late 2013, Eden was cast in the movie One Song, which was filmed in Excelsior, Minnesota.[16]
Eden has also done voice work for the animated children's television series Shimmer and Shine where she voices the genie teacher Empress Caliana, who is retired genie mentor of Princess Samira who mentors the title characters. Caliana aids the main protagonists Leah and her twin genies Shimmer and Shine in rescuing Samira from a crystal cave in "The Crystal Queen". She also voices Caliana in the Season 3 episode "Samira and Zeta" which reveals that Caliana taught at Genie Hall, a genie school attended by both a young Samira and the series main antagonist Zeta back when both were genies-in-training.
== Personal life: Jeannie Out of the Bottle ==
Eden wrote a memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle, which was released on April 5, 2011, by Crown Archetype, a division of Random House.[17]
Chronicling Eden's personal life and Hollywood career of more than 50 years, the book debuted at #14 on the New York Times Best Seller List.[18][19]
Jeannie Out of the Bottle includes intimate details about Eden's early childhood, her rise to popularity in her teens and early 20s, her co-stars over the years, and Eden's work leading up to and during I Dream of Jeannie. Also covered are her three marriages to Michael Ansara (1958–1974), Charles Fegert (1977–1982) and Jon Eicholtz (1991–present) and her "emotional breakdown" following the death of her only child, Matthew Ansara.
== Honors ==
On November 17, 1988, Eden received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to television.[20] In 1990, the University of West Los AngelesSchool of Law granted Eden an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.[20]
== Filmography ==
=== Feature films ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1956	Back from Eternity 	Blonde College Girl	
1957	Bailout at 43,000 	Blonde at Nightclub	
1957	Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? 	Miss Carstairs 	Alternative title: Oh! For a Man!
1957	The Wayward Girl 	Molly 	
1959	A Private's Affair 	Sgt. Katey Mulligan	
1960	Twelve Hours to Kill 	Lucy Hall 	Alternative title: 12 Hours to Kill
1960	Flaming Star 	Roslyn Pierce 	
1960	From the Terrace 	Clemmie Shreve 	
1961	Swingin' Along 	Carol Walker 	Alternative title: Double Trouble
1961	All Hands on Deck 	Sally Hobson 	
1961	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 	Lt. Cathy Connors 	
1962	The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm	Greta Heinrich 	
1962	Five Weeks in a Balloon 	Susan Gale 	
1963	The Yellow Canary 	Lissa Paxton 	
1964	7 Faces of Dr. Lao 	Angela Benedict 	
1964	Quick, Let's Get Married 	Pia Pacelli 	Alternative title: The Confession; filmed in 1964, released in 1971
1964	The Brass Bottle 	Sylvia Kenton 	
1964	The New Interns 	Laura Rogers 	
1964	Ride the Wild Surf 	Augie Poole 	
1976	The Amazing Dobermans 	Justine Pirot 	Alternative title: Lucky
1978	Harper Valley PTA 	Stella Johnson 	
1984	Chattanooga Choo Choo 	Maggie Jones 	
1985	The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal 	Herself 	Documentary
1996	A Very Brady Sequel 	Jeannie (cameo) 	
2003	Loco Love 	Jackie 	Alternative title: Mi Casa, Su Casa
2003	Carolina 	Daphne St. Claire 	
=== Television films ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1971	The Feminist and the Fuzz 	Dr. Jane Bowers 	
1971	A Howling in the Woods 	Liza Crocker 	
1972	The Woman Hunter 	Dina Hunter 	
1973	Guess Who's Sleeping in My Bed? 	Francine Gregory 	Alternative title: Guess Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
1974	The Stranger Within 	Ann Collins 	
1975	Let's Switch! 	Lacy Colbert 	
1976	How to Break Up a Happy Divorce 	Ellen Dowling 	
1977	Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?	Liz Stonestreet 	Alternative title: Stonestreet
1979	The Girls in the Office 	Lee Rawlins 	
1980	Condominium 	Barbara Messenger 	
1981	Return of the Rebels 	Mary Beth Allen 	Alternative title: The Eagle Rock Rebels Ride Again
1985	I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later 	Jeannie / Jeannie II 	Alternative title: I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later
1987	The Stepford Children 	Laura Harding 	
1988	The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick 	Kathy McCormick 	
1989	Your Mother Wears Combat Boots 	Brenda Andersen 	
1989	Brand New Life: The Honeymooners 	Barbara McCray Gibbons 	
1990	Opposites Attract 	Charlene "Charlie" McKeon 	
1991	Her Wicked Ways 	Tess O'Brien 	Alternative title: Lethal Charm
1991	Hell Hath No Fury 	Terri Ferguson 	
1991	I Still Dream of Jeannie 	Jeannie / Jeannie II 	
1993	Visions of Murder 	Dr. Jesse Newman 	
1994	Eyes of Terror 	Dr. Jesse Newman 	Alternative titles: Visions of Terror, Visions of Murder II
1996	Dead Man's Island 	Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins (Henrie O)	
2009	Always and Forever 	Mary Anderson 	
=== Television series ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1956 	The Johnny Carson Show 	Herself (performer) 	Semi-regular (14 episodes)
1956 	The West Point Story 	Toni DeWitt 	Episode: "A Tough Decision"
1957 	Highway Patrol 	Kathy O'Shea 	Episode: "Hostage Copter"
1957 	I Love Lucy 	Diana Jordan 	Episode: "Country Club Dance"
1957 	The Millionaire 	Billie Walker 	Episode: "The Ted McAllister Story"
1957 	Crossroads 	Polly Grant 	Episode: "A Green Hill Faraway"
1957–59	How to Marry a Millionaire 	Loco Jones 	Main cast (52 episodes)
1957 	Perry Mason 	Carla Adrian 	Episode: "The Case of the Angry Mourner"
1957 	Gunsmoke 	Judy Pierce 	Episode: "Romeo"
1957 	Bachelor Father 	Patricia "Patty" Robbins 	Episode: "Bentley and the Revolving Housekeepers"
1957 	December Bride 	Miss Wilson 	Episode: "The Other Woman"
1958 	Father Knows Best 	Marge Corbett 	Episode: "The Rivals"
1958 	The Lineup 	Eleanor 	Episode: "The Samuel Bradford Case"
1961 	Adventures in Paradise 	Ginny Grant 	Episode: "The Inheritance"
1962 	The Andy Griffith Show 	Ellen Brown 	Episode: "The Manicurist"
1962 	Target: The Corruptors! 	Lili 	Episode: "Babes in Wall Street"
1962 	Cain's Hundred 	Terri Emson 	Episode: "Savage in Darkness"
1962 	Saints and Sinners 	Nora Love 	Episode: "Daddy's Girl"
1963 	Dr. Kildare 	Nurse Judy Gail 	Episode: "If You Can't Believe the Truth"
1963–64	Rawhide 	Crystal Simpson / Goldie Rogers	3 episodes
1963–65	Burke's Law 	Various Characters 	4 episodes
1964 	Route 66 	Margo Tiffin / Margo Stiles 	Episodes: "Where There's a Will, There's a Way" (Parts 1 & 2)
1964 	The Virginian 	Samantha Fry 	Episode: "The Brazos Kid"
1965 	Slattery's People 	Lucrezia Kirk 	Episode: "Question: When Do We Hang the Good Samaritan?"
1965 	The Rogues 	Sally Cardew 	Episode: "Wherefore Art Thou, Harold?"
1965–70	I Dream of Jeannie 	Jeannie / Jeannie II 	Lead role (139 episodes)
1967 	Armstrong Circle Theatre 	Lalume 	Episode: "Kismet"
1967 	Off to See the Wizard 	Melinda 	Episode: "Hell Cats"
1973 	The Barbara Eden Show 	Barbara Norris 	Episode: "Pilot"
1974 	Out to Lunch 	Herself 	Guest star (TV special)
1975 	NBC Special Treat 	Narrator (voice role) 	Episode: "Flight from Fuji"
1981–82	Harper Valley PTA 	Stella Johnson 	Lead role (30 episodes)
1989–90	Brand New Life 	Barbara McCray Gibbons 	Lead role (5 episodes)
1990–91	Dallas 	LeeAnn De La Vega 	Guest star (5 episodes)
2002–03	Sabrina the Teenage Witch 	Aunt Irma 	Recurring role (3 episodes)
2003 	Teamo Supremo 	Evelyn (voice role) 	Episode: "Brenda's Birthday Bandit"
2007 	George Lopez 	Ruth 	Episode: "George is Maid to be Ruth-Less"
2007 	Army Wives 	Victoria Grayson 	Episode: "Truth and Consequences"
2016 	Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition	Herself 	Contestant (2 episodes)[21][22]
2016–17	Shimmer and Shine 	Empress Caliana (voice role) 	Episodes: "The Crystal Queen", "Samira and Zeta"
2018 	Long Island Medium 	Herself 	Episode: "Sitcom Spirits"
Category:American film actresses
Category:1931 births