Barbara Eden
Barbara Eden is an American actress and singer, who starred as the title character in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. Her other roles included Roslyn Pierce opposite Elvis Presley in Flaming Star, Lieutenant Cathy Connors in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and a single widowed mother, Stella Johnson, in the film comedy Harper Valley PTA and in the spinoff television series.
Eden began singing in bands as a teenager and studied singing and acting. In 1955, she began her television career with appearances on The Johnny Carson Show and on various other series, such as Burke's Law. By 1957, she was starring in the comedy TV series How to Marry a Millionaire. She also began to act in plays. In 1959, she had her first major film role in A Private's Affair. After I Dream of Jeannie, Eden appeared mostly in dramatic roles, such as in the TV movie Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?. She also appeared in musical comedy tours, other theatrical roles and a TV broadcast of Kismet, released an album, appeared on variety television shows and USO shows, and headlined Las Vegas acts. After starring in the film and TV series Harper Valley PTA, she played opposite her I Dream of Jeannie co-star Larry Hagman on several occasions, including in five episodes of the final season of Dallas and the play Love Letters.
Early years
Eden was born on August 23, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona, to Alice Mary and Hubert Henry Morehead. She is a descendant of Benjamin Franklin. For decades, the public believed that the year of her birth was 1934. After her parents divorced, 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. Eden grew up in San Francisco's Parkside neighborhood and traces her family back four generations in San Francisco, remembering stories about her grandmother who came in a covered wagon and her grandfather who arrived by clipper ship.The Great Depression affected the family deeply. As they were unable to afford many luxuries, Alice entertained her children with singing. Eden remembers having a "very musical family."
Eden's first public performance was with the church choir, where she sang solos. As a teenager, she sang in local bands led by Howard Fredericks and Freddie Martin. At 16, she studied singing with voice teacher Paulina Giovanini at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and acting with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theater. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in 1949 and studied theater for one year at City College of San Francisco. As Barbara Huffman, she was crowned Miss San Francisco in 1951; she also entered the Miss California pageant.
Television and film roles
Eden began her television career as a semiregular on The Johnny Carson Show in 1955. 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 Fox studios. She then starred in the syndicated comedy TV series How to Marry a Millionaire. The series is based on the 1953 film.Eden had minor roles in Bailout at 43,000, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, and The Wayward Girl, all in 1957, then became a leading lady in films, starring in A Private's Affair. She had a co-starring role in Flaming Star with Elvis Presley. In 1961, 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 Cinerama film directed by George Pal for MGM, and another Irwin Allen production for 20th Century Fox, Five Weeks in a Balloon. 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.
Her last film for 20th Century Fox was The Yellow Canary. 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''
In 1965, producer Sidney Sheldon signed Eden to star in his then-upcoming fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie for NBC. After various brunette starlets and beauty queens had unsuccessfully tried out for the role, Eden was approached by Sheldon, who had seen her in The Brass Bottle and had received numerous recommendations for Eden from various colleagues. Eden played Jeannie, a beautiful genie set free from her bottle by astronaut and United States Air Force Captain Anthony "Tony" Nelson, played by Larry Hagman.Eden played this role for five years and 139 episodes.
Musicals and 1970s TV movies
Eden starred in such musical comedies as Nite Club Confidential, 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 played Lalune in a TV adaptation of Kismet. From April through September 1984, she starred in the national production of Woman of the Year, playing the role of Tess Harding Craig. 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 and Marie. She released an album titled Miss Barbara Eden in 1967 on Dot Records. She also had long-running stints headlining in Las Vegas.After Jeannie, Eden starred in an unaired pilot, The Barbara Eden Show, and 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. In The Stranger Within, Eden played housewife Ann Collins, a woman impregnated by extraterrestrials. Later, Eden played a policewoman-turned-private detective investigating the disappearance of a missing heiress, in the critically acclaimed TV movie Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?. She starred in and co-produced, with her own production company, the NBC-TV romantic comedy movie The Secret Life of Kathy McCormick. She also starred in and produced the romantic comedy TV movie Opposites Attract, co-starring John Forsythe.
''Harper Valley PTA'' and later career
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 protagonist Stella Johnson. It was a comedy version of Peyton Place, with Anne Francine playing wealthy villainess Flora Simpson Reilly. In one episode, Stella dressed in a blue and gold genie costume, and in another, she played both Stella and her cousin Della Smith. It debuted January 16, 1981, winning 11 of its 13 time slots during the first season. It was renamed simply Harper Valley when it 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 advertisements and TV commercials for the brand from 1979 to 1983.In 1990, Eden played a recurring role as a billionairess seeking revenge against J.R. Ewing in five episodes of the final season of Dallas, as the captivating character LeeAnn de la Vega, reuniting her with Hagman. In her final episode, the character admits that her maiden name is Nelson. 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.
From 2000 to 2004, she 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 academy since appearing in the 1956 Ziv Television Programs, The West Point Story. Eden also starred in Love Letters opposite Hal Linden the same year and had a guest-starring role on the Lifetime series Army Wives. She starred in the TV movie Always and Forever on the Hallmark Channel 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 familiar Jeannie harem costume. She was next cast in the movie One Song, filmed the same year. She has also done voice work for the animated children's television series Shimmer and Shine.