Barbara Jean Huffman Barbara Jean Morehead
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Barbara Eden, born Barbara Jean Morehead in Tucson, Arizona in 1931, played the title character in the 1960s NBC sitcom I Dream of Jeannie 1965. The show ran five seasons and 139 episodes. She appeared in over 20 feature films, including Flaming Star 1960 with Elvis Presley, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Barbara Eden — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Barbara Eden by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Barbara Eden — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Barbara Eden was born Barbara Jean Morehead on August 23, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she later took her stepfather’s surname Huffman. As a child, she wore glasses and an eye patch, which made her shy; to help overcome this, her mother enrolled her in singing classes. She attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, graduating in 1949, and later studied at City College of San Francisco and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Eden made her first television appearance on an episode of I Love Lucy in 1957. She starred in the television version of How to Marry a Millionaire 1957 and appeared in films including Flaming Star 1960 with Elvis Presley, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 1961, and The Brass Bottle 1964, which led to the creation of I Dream of Jeannie. The sitcom aired from 1965 to 1970. After the series, she continued in TV movies like Harper Valley P.T.A. 1978 and stage productions such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1998.
Eden has been married three times. Her first marriage was to actor Michael Ansara from 1958 to 1974, with whom she had a son, Matthew Ansara, born in 1965. She married Charles Fegert from 1977 to 1983. Since 1991, she has been married to architect and real estate developer Jon Eicholtz. Her son Matthew died of a drug overdose in 2001 at age 35. She has a younger sister, Alison Scanlon. Eden resides in Beverly Hills.
Barbara Eden’s role as Jeannie in I Dream of Jeannie remains her signature work. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998 at 7003 Hollywood Boulevard. People Magazine named her one of America’s 200 Greatest Pop Icons of the 20th Century. She received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Her career, spanning more than 50 years, includes 25 feature films, five network TV series, and 19 top-rated made-for-television movies.
The complete filmography of Barbara Eden — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Barbara Eden — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Barbara Eden — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Don’t Know What I Am Doing from One Moment to the Next. I Like That Not Knowing Because It’s Always a Surprise. You Don’t Know What’s Around the Corner, You Know What Role Am I Going to Play Next and Who Am I Going to Be Working With. It’s Like Opening a Present.
Every New Year’s I Resolve to Have a Better Year Than I Had Before.
If Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Then I’m a Blonde That Prefers Gentlemen.
Out of All the Actors I Have Worked With, I Love Working with Larry Hagman the Most. We Were Very Close and It Was Just a Wonderful Time.
I’ve Never Stopped Working. If You’re Active, You Can Appreciate What You Did in the Past, You Don’t Feel Like It’s Gone.
Work Makes Me Feel Productive, as Though I’m Contributing Something. I Like Being Productive and Feeling Productive.
Advice to Present-day Actors Linked to a Particular Role: I Would Embrace the Character, Because It Won’t Do Any Good If You Don’t. and Another Thing: Don’t Whine or Talk Trash About It. I Don’t Think You Ever Demean to Your Public What You’ve Done. You’re Insulting Them If You Demean Your Work.
On Jeannie: She’s Very Easy to Live With. Actually I Think I’m More Restricted by Her Now Than When She Was on the Air, or 20 Years After. I Was Just so Busy.
Little-known facts about Barbara Eden — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
After I Dream of Jeannie, Eden had a nightclub act showcasing her singing talent, performing various songs.
During the pilot for I Dream of Jeannie, director Gene Nelson created the ATB Above the Baby shot to hide Eden’s pregnancy.
Her mother Alice Huffman was 16 when she had Barbara, and Eden cared for her until her death from lung cancer in 1986 at age 71.
Her son Matthew died of an accidental drug overdose on June 25, 2001, at age 35; his body was found in a car in Los Angeles.
She is the last surviving original cast member of I Dream of Jeannie after Bill Daily’s death in 2018.
Eden described a unique connection with Larry Hagman, saying she never worked with an actor with such rhythm and effortlessness.
Her last name was changed from Huffman to Eden by her first agent.
As a child, she wore glasses and an eye patch, which made her shy; her mother enrolled her in singing classes to overcome it.
She was crowned Miss San Francisco in 1951.
She had a stillborn baby at seven months pregnant, six weeks after discovering the baby was not alive.
She received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 17, 1998, at 7003 Hollywood Boulevard.
At the 2013 Life Ball in Vienna, she wore her Jeannie outfit, this time showing her belly button.
She played both Jeannie and her evil twin Jeannie II on I Dream of Jeannie.
She was inducted into the California Broadcasting Hall of Fame on July 18, 2003.
She owns a chocolate Labradoodle named Djinn-Djinn after Jeannie’s dog on the show.
The No Navel Edict on I Dream of Jeannie was NBC’s rule after columnist Mike Connolly questioned her belly button’s existence.
She married third husband Jon Eicholtz in 1991 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, which she attended as a child.
She took her stepfather’s surname Huffman after her mother remarried when she was young.
She began using the name Barbara Eden in 1956, having previously been Barbara Jean Huffman.
Her parents divorced when she was three, and her mother later married Harrison Connor Huffman.
She and Larry Hagman reunited in the 1971 TV movie A Howling in the Woods.
She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in 1949.
Her son Matthew Ansara was born on August 29, 1965, and died on June 25, 2001.
She has a younger sister, Alison Scanlon, who is 12 years younger.
Her parents, Hubert Henry Morehead and Mary Alice Franklin, married in Santa Cruz County, Arizona on January 31, 1931.
She screen-tested for the film State Fair in May 1960.
Gene Schwam is her friend and manager.
She is aunt of screenwriter Katherine Fugate and godmother of Katherine’s daughter Madeleine Barbara Fugate.
She is ex-mother-in-law of Julie Ansara.
Her star sign is Leo 29 degrees, with birthday on August 23.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Barbara Eden.
Celebrities similar to Barbara Eden — same craft, ranked by reach.
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