America’s favorite Jeannie in a bottle, Barbara Eden, turned 92 years old in 2023, much to the shock of everyone who has ever enjoyed watching the acting expertise of this blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty on screen or on television. After six decades as an actress, the star has not slowed down in terms of her career or zest for life. Let’s take a look at her Hollywood career and how she looks today.
Eden, the beautiful and renowned “Jeannie in a bottle,” was born in Tucson, Arizona, on Aug. 23, 1931. Her parents later divorced, and Eden got a half-sister from her mother’s subsequent remarriage. This Virgo’s career initially started with her singing in the church choir, in which she sang the solos. Later, in her teen years, she would sing in several bands performing in local clubs for about $10 (equivalent to about $130 nowadays) a night.
When she was 16, she became an Actor’s Equity member and started to study singing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as acting at the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theater. Meanwhile, she repeatedly participated in beauty pageants and even won the Miss San Francisco title in 1951, which propelled her into the Miss California pageant.
The nostalgia of 1960s television shows certainly emanates an aura of charm, and one such long-running show at the forefront was “I Dream of Jeannie,” starring Eden as the titular character. The show’s plot involved American astronaut Tony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman. Apparently, Hagman lands slightly off-course on a deserted island and unwittingly finds an unusual but beautiful bottle. He does the foreseeable rub on the bottle, and out pops a beautiful Jeannie as a pixie-faced, blonde-haired beauty.
Jeannie’s antics must be hidden by Nelson in order to protect her from the public while also protecting his high-security employment. Obviously, surreptitious yet suggested romance permeates the entire plot. The only other 1960s sitcom that was so successful at combining reality with fiction was likely “Bewitched.”
As the casting for the role of Jeannie opened, producer Sidney Sheldon failed to find an actress who could deliver the role as he had originally intended it. There was one specific rule, however: Sheldon didn’t want a blonde genie since he felt this would bear too many similarities to the actress on “Bewitched.”
After many unsuccessful auditions, he eventually contacted Eden’s agent, and she landed the part that would soon become her most iconic role.
However, this long-lived sitcom was not her only appearance in the film industry. In 1978, Eden played the lead role in the movie, “The Harper Valley PTA.” Eden was the unfairly maligned and disreputable mom of a teenage daughter who gets her point across almost entirely through the words of a country song made famous by Tom T. Hall. If you have ever heard the song, “The Harper Valley PTA,” then you certainly understand that her character was the target of maligned jealousy.
Eden’s pretty 32-year-old face was framed by milder auburn tresses while in character as Augie Poole in the 1964 beachside romance, “Ride the Wild Surf,” during the nebulous Vietnam War era. The film did a fair job, but it was not her most shining moment. It is, however, a fun nostalgic trip down memory lane, especially if you want to see Eden in a modest swimsuit.
Not everyone knows that Eden’s ’60s sojourn in a magical bottle was not her first “trip,” nor was it her first military exposure. Her role as Lt. Cathy Connors in the series, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” saw her enlisted in the Navy instead of the Air Force. Their mission involved experimenting with an atomic submarine and nuclear missiles up against a radiation belt. It was all pretty deep, and unlike the light comedy offered in her later, “I Dream of Jeannie” role.
On top of her television and movie acting work, Eden has branched out into the theater as well. Over the years, she’s appeared in “The Odd Couple,” “Love Letters” and “Social Security,” some of which toured in major cities across the United States, as well as in the musicals “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “The Sound of Music,” among others. In total, she’s acted in 25 feature films, five network TV series, 19 top-rated network made-for-TV movies, appeared on concert stages and in theaters across the United States and even headlined casinos and hotel resorts in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe. What an incredibly diverse portfolio the actress has been able to achieve in her lifetime! She made such a powerful impact on the television industry that Eden received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988.
But while some might be content with that body of work, Eden has no plans to quit acting.
In an interview with the Television Academy Foundation, she discussed how important it was for her to continue working.
She told the foundation:
“Oh it’s very important for me to keep working. I, first of all, I enjoy my work, but I can’t imagine ever retiring. I hope there will be parts for me as a little old lady…but of course as you grow older there aren’t as many parts for you, but I understand that but I still want to work.”
Luckily for Eden and for us, she has continued to work, even if it’s not as frequently as it was back in her heyday. Her last movie appearance was as Mrs. Claus in the 2019 film “My Adventures With Santa.”