Barbara Eden is an American actress whose career spans 5 decades. During her heyday, she was known for her role as “Jeannie”, a washed-up genius in the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie”. This role has remained her best known to this day, and Eden still lives in that fame, occasionally using the genius image to her advantage.
Barbara Eden Bio (Age)
Eden was born Barbara Jean Morehead on 23 August 1931 in Tucson, Arizona, the daughter of Alice Mary (née Franklin) and Hubert Henry Morehead. At the time of her birth, her mother was 17 years old, while her father, who was a butcher, was 22.
Her parents divorced when she was three years old, whereupon her mother moved with her to San Francisco, where she was to marry a telephone operator named Harrison Connor Huffman. Barbara then took her stepfather’s last name.
Barbara inherited her mother’s singing genes and began to perform them as a child in her church choir, where she sang solos. As she grew older, she honed her vocal skills and soon earned $10 per performance in nightclubs.
She enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to study music, and later at the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre, where she studied acting. Eden attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, graduating in 1949. She attended the City College of San Francisco, where she studied theatre for only one year.
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Barbara used her exuberant figure and began working as a model. She was crowned Miss San Francisco in 1951. She quickly switched to acting and got her first agent, who changed her name to Barbara Eden. Eden began her television career with a semi-regular role on the Johnny Carson Show and made her feature film debut in an unappreciated role in Back from Eternity (1956).
From years to 1964, Barbara starred in about 18 feature films, but none of them were remarkable enough to make her breakthrough. At the same time, she appeared in numerous television programs. Her supporting role in The Brass Bottle caught the attention of producer Sidney Sheldon, who gave her the role of Jeannie in the fantasy sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
The sitcom premiered on NBC in 1965 and became a hit, achieved cult status, and led Eden’s career across the finish line. The show was broadcast for 5 years, a total of 139 episodes. After the end of the series, Eden became a fixture in television movies. Her next big appearance was the role of Stella Johnson in the feature film Harper Valley PTA (1978), which was about a popular country song.
In the mid-1990s, Eden’s acting career began to fade. However, she occasionally appears as a guest. Her autobiography, Barbara Eden: My Story was published in 1986, and in 2011 she published her memoirs, Jeannie Out of the Bottle.
Alive or Dead?
When an actor’s prime is behind him and it gets very quiet in the mainstream, the world begins to wonder if she is alive or dead? and with Eden, the case was no different. Well, Barbara Eden is not dead, she’s alive. She has managed to stay active in her own little way by setting up an Instagram account, where she occasionally keeps her fans informed about her life. In an effort to fit into the modern world, Eden also has a self-titled website.
Barbara Eden Net Worth
From singing in nightclubs to the popularity of teenagers to Hollywood fame, Barbara Eden could not be prouder of her life’s work. In 1988 she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her net worth is estimated at $10 million.
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Son: Matthew Ansara
Barbara Eden had a son named Mathew Ansara who was born on 29 August 1965. She fathered him shortly after she made the pilot for I Dream of Jeannie. It was her first child with her first husband Michael Ansara, to whom she was married from 1958 to 1974.
Unfortunately, Matt died on June 25, 2001, at the age of 35. He was found dead in his car after an accidental drug overdose. Barbara suffered an emotional breakdown after the death of her son, which she records in her 2011 memoirs.
Although Barbara remarried twice, Matthew was her only son. Matthew followed in his famous parents’ footsteps to become an actor, although he only acted occasionally. His most famous movies include One World (1998), Con Games (2001) and To Protect and Serve (2001).
For two years, from 1993 to 1995, he was married to Julie Ansara. Matthew was engaged to his girlfriend Leanna Green at a wedding planned for September 1, 2001. He had no children.
Measurements
One of Barbara Eden’s trademarks is her exuberant figure, which has stood the test of time. Her recent performances show that time has done little to impair Eden’s hourglass figure. Her body measurements are 36-24-36 inches. Barbara Eden is 5 feet 3 inches tall.