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? (1977). 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. Eden continued to perform until the age of 90.
Early years
Eden was born on August 23, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona, to Alice Mary (née Franklin) and Hubert Henry Morehead.[2] She is a descendant of Benjamin Franklin.[3] For decades, her year of birth was thought to be 1934.[4][5] 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.[6] 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 came on a clipper ship.[7]
The Great Depression deeply affected the family,[citation needed] and as they were unable to afford many luxuries, Alice entertained her children with singing. Eden remembers having a "very musical family".[8]
Eden's first public performance was singing in the church choir, where she sang the solos. As a teenager, she sang in local bands led by Howard Fredericks and Freddie Martin.[7] At age 16, she studied singing with voice teacher Paulina Giovanini at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and acting with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre.[7][9] She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in the Spring Class of 1949[10] 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 California pageant.[11][12]
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.[citation needed]
I Dream of Jeannie
Eden as Jeannie in a variation of the Jeannie costume seen only in the pilot episode
In 1965, producer Sidney Sheldon signed Eden to star in his upcoming fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie for 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 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 ForceCaptain (later Major) Anthony "Tony" Nelson, played by Larry Hagman.
Eden played this role for five years and 139 episodes.
After Jeannie, Eden starred in an unaired pilot, The Barbara Eden Show,[13] and another pilot, The Toy Game. Her first TV movie was called The Feminist and the Fuzz (1971). 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 a policewoman-turned-private detective investigating the disappearance of a missing heiress, in the 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 romantic comedy movie 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.[citation needed]
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.[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). 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'eggspantyhose, and appeared in a series of print advertisements and TV commercials for the brand from 1979 to 1983.[17]
Eden in 1987 at a United Services Organization show aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa
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 (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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] She was next cast in the movie One Song, filmed the same year.[19] She has also done voice work for the animated children's television series Shimmer and Shine.
Eden wrote the memoir Jeannie Out of the Bottle, published on April 5, 2011 by Crown Archetype, a division of Random House.[21] It debuted at number 14 on The New York Times Best Seller list.[22][23]
Jeannie Out of the Bottle chronicles her personal life and Hollywood career of more than 50 years and includes intimate details about her early childhood, her rise to popularity in her teens and early 20s, her co-stars over the years, and her work leading to I Dream of Jeannie. It also covers her marriages to Michael Ansara (1958–1974), Charles Fegert (1977–1982), and Jon Eicholtz (1991–present), and her "emotional breakdown" following the 2001 death of her son Matthew Ansara (1965–2001) from a drug overdose.[24]
In June 2021, while talking about her children's book Barbara and the Djinn, Eden revealed that she and her husband Jon Eicholtz had recovered from COVID-19.[25] In 2023, she celebrated her 92nd birthday and said, "My life is very centered around my family, my house, my husband, my dog Bentley and my friends."[26]
4 episodes: "Who killed Harris Crown?", 1963; "Who killed Cornelius Gilbert?", 1964; "Who killed Paper Dragon?", 1964; "Who killed the Man on the White Horse?", 1965
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