Celebrity Nooz: Barbara Eden

Barbara Eden (Actress) as Jeanie - I Dream of Jeanie

Updated: 4/3/2005

Name: Barbara Eden

Birth Name: Barbara Jean Moorhead

Born: August 23, 1934 in Tucson, Arizona

Claim To Fame: Who doesn't know Barbara as Jeanie from 'I Dream of Jeanie'? This was the role that got her known to all of us.

Family Life: Jon Eicholtz - January 1991 - present
Charles Donald Fegert - September 1977 - 1983 (divorced)
Michael Ansara - January 1958 - May 1974 (divorced)

Info: In the mid-1950s, Twentieth Century Fox signed Eden to a studio contract, and she appeared in a string of movies opposite such heartthrobs as Elvis Presley and Paul Newman.

In 1957, Eden was cast in the TV adaptation of "How to Marry a Millionaire"; she played the part Marilyn Monroe had in the movie version. The actress' biggest break came in 1964, when her agent sent her the script for "I Dream of Jeannie" and she was offered the lead role of the wacky, wonderful genie. That same year, she and her then-husband, actor Michael Ansara, were expecting a child, and in August 1965, Matthew was born.

In 1970 her show was cancelled, and she endured yet another disappointment when she learned that her second baby had died in her womb at seven-and-a-half months.

Barbara's marriage dissolved under the strain of that trauma. Soon afterward she married her second husband, a newspaper executive from Chicago, but they eventually divorced.

Things began looking up for Barbara again in the '80s, when she worked steadily on a variety of television projects and met her current husband, real estate developer Jon Eicholtz.

Barbara's relentless work ethic is what has sustained her during her rough times, including the roughest of them all: the death of her son in 2001 from a heroin overdose.

Trivia: She was not allowed to show her belly button on "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965) because of NBC's "No Navel Edict".

Crowned: "Miss San Francisco" in 1951

Although she was born Barbara Jean Moorhead, she took her stepfather's last name of Huffman when her mother Alice remarried.

Also played Jeannie's sister in "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965).

Shortly after shooting began on the pilot episode for "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965), it was learned that she was pregnant. Director Gene Nelson invented a shot he playfully called the "ATB".("Above the Baby") "Sometimes", he stated, "We'd have to follow Jeannie's arm across the room".

Barbara's last name was changed from "Huffman" to "Eden" by her first agent.

In 1997, Columbia announced plans to produce a big-screen version of "I Dream of Jeannie," but the movie has yet to be made. There has been talk that Paris Hilton will take the role. Just this year, Paris played Barbara in an episode of 'American Dreams.'

Where Are They Now: Touring the country in a female edition of the Neil Simon play 'The Odd Couple'

She also turned up in a spoof production of "Desperate Housewives." In the sketch Barbara plays the role of Nicollette Sheridan's Edie.

And in the past few years she has been on several episodes of 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch.'

Write To Barbara Eden:
Barbara Eden
Post Office Box 5556
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Secondary Address:
Barbara Eden
c/o Scott Stander & Associates, Inc.
13701 Riverside Drive #201
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

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