Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead on August 23, 1934 in Tucson, Arizona) is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
Eden graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in 1949, and was elected Miss San Francisco, 1951. She became Barbara Jean Huffman when her mother remarried, and then changed from "Huffman" to "Eden" at the behest of her manager, who thought the name Huffman would not sell in Hollywood. Eden agreed to change her last name, but insisted on keeping her first name, stating that she could not answer to anything else..
Eden made featured appearances on popular television shows such as I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Bachelor Father, Gunsmoke, The Johnny Carson Show (a 1955 primetime variety hour), and the series finale of Route 66. Eden made her film debut in Back from Eternity (1956), and the following year she starred in the television series How to Marry a Millionaire, playing the role Marilyn Monroe had played in the film version.
Eden had a notable part in Flaming Star (1960), an Elvis Presley movie. The following year, she played in a supporting role as Lt. Cathy Connors in Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, one of many successful science fiction outings by "The Master of Disaster," where she was the hottest thing on television at the time. She played supporting roles in films over the next few years, including The Brass Bottle and the notable, if odd, movie, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, both with Tony Randall, before being signed to play her most famous and widely-recognized role, the character of Jeannie in the television sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
On the Screen Gems-produced I Dream of Jeannie, Eden starred as a magical genie named Jeannie, set free from her bottle by astronaut Major Anthony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman. The show proved to be a huge success, running from 1965 until 1970, and during this time Eden was nominated twice for Golden Globe Awards. Eden later reprised her Jeannie role in two made-for-TV reunion movies (I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later in 1985 and I Still Dream of Jeannie in 1991), and TV commercials (AT&T, Lexus, Old Navy).
Eden's first husband, actor Michael Ansara, made guest appearances on Jeannie as "The Blue Djinn." They had two children together, actor Matthew Ansara, who died on June 25, 2001 from a drug overdose, and a stillborn boy, who died in 1971. Ansara and Eden divorced in 1974.
She was married to her second husband, Chicago Sun-Times news journalist, Charles Donald Fegert, from 1977 to 1983. She married her third and current husband, Los Angeles real estate developer Jon Trusdale Eicholtz, on January 5, 1991.
She continued to appear regularly on television and 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, she played the show's heroine, Stella Johnson.
In 1990, Eden had a recurring role in five episodes of the final season of Dallas, playing the character Lee Ann de la Vega, reuniting her with her I Dream of Jeannie co-star Hagman. In her final episode, the character says her maiden name was "Lee Ann 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. She also made appearances in the last few seasons of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as the evil family matriarch, Aunt Irma.
Eden is also a singer, and has been a musical guest star in over 50 variety TV shows, including 21 Bob Hope specials. Barbara released an album entitled Miss Barbara Eden in 1967, under the record label Dot Records.
Eden wrote an autobiography, Barbara Eden: My Story, published in October 1989. Although issued an ISBN number for circulation, the book was not mass-produced and disputes over its content between the publisher and Eden prevented circulation.
Eden received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in the spring of 1990 from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to television at 2003 Hollywood Boulevard.
In March 2006, Barbara Eden reunited with her former I Dream Of Jeannie co-star Larry Hagman for a publicity tour in New York to promote the first season DVD of I Dream Of Jeannie. They appeared together on such shows as Good Morning America, The View, Martha, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and Showbiz Tonight.
Also in March 2006 Hagman and Eden reunited onstage for the play Love Letters at the College of Staten Island in New York and at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. This was Eden's first visit to the Academy since appearing in The West Point Story in 1956. It was also the first time the two had acted together since appearing on the TV series Dallas in 1990.
Eden's most recent work was a guest starring role on the Lifetime series Army Wives, written and produced by her niece, Katherine Fugate.
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