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Barbara Eden

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Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden (born August 23, 1934 in Tucson, Arizona, USA) is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.

Early years

Barbara Eden was born Barbara Jean Moorhead August 23 1934 in Tucson, Arizona. By age three she would become Barbara Jean Huffman due to her mother's marriage to Connor Huffman. The change from "Huffman" to "Eden" came 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. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in 1949.

TV/film roles

Eden made featured appearances on popular television shows such as I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Perry Mason, Bachelor Father, Gunsmoke, 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.

Jeannie

File:Jeannie.jpg
Barbara Eden as 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 "Captain 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 80s–90s TV-movie reunions (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).

Marriages

Eden's first husband, actor Michael Ansara, made guest appearances on Jeannie as "The Blue Djinn". They had one son together, actor Matthew Ansara, who died on June 25 2001 after a heroin overdose. Michael Ansara and Barbara 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 Eicholtz, on January 5 1991.

Later career...

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 movie and TV series, she played the show's hero, Stella Johnson.

File:DSCF1261.jpg
Barbara Eden with Howard Frank October, 2005. Photo: Howard Frank Archives.

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 Larry 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".

Barbara is also a talented 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, which was published in October 1989. Barbara 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.

Note on the Autobiography: Barbara Eden: My Story was written and was issued an ISBN number for circulation. However, the book itself was not mass produced and disputes over its content between the publisher and Ms. Eden prevented circulation.

Eden's lineage has been traced to Benjamin Franklin by one of her relatives.

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, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood and Showbiz Tonight. Later that week both appeared at the Barnes & Noble at 675 6th Avenue in downtown Manhattan for a DVD autograph signing. That same month, both reunited on stage for the play Love Letters at the College of Staten Island in New York and at the United States Military Academy 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. Barbara was a guest on several episodes of Dallas playing an ex-lover (Lee Ann De La Vega) of Larry Hagman's character J.R. Ewing.

Filmography

Television work

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