Barbara Eden is an American actress whose career spans over 5 decades. While on vacation, she was known for her role as “Jeannie,” a bottled-up genius on the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie. It remains her most well-known role to date and Eden still lives on in that glory, occasionally using the Genie’s image in her favor.
Barbara Eden Bio (Age)
Eden was born Barbara Jean Morehead on August 23, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona, to Alice Mary (née Franklin) and Hubert Henry Morehead. At the time of his birth, his mother was 17 years old and his father, a butcher, 22 years old.
Her parents divorced when she was three years old after which her mother moved with her to San Fransisco where she would marry a telephone lineman named Harrison Connor Huffman. Barbara then took her stepfather’s surname.
Barbara inherited her mother’s singing genes and began performing them as a child in her church choir where she sang solos. She honed her vocal abilities as she grew older and soon began earning $10 per nightclub performance.
She enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to study music and later the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theater where she studied acting. Eden attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco where she graduated in 1949. She studied acting at City College of San Francisco, where she only studied acting for one year.
Utilizing her voluptuous figure, Barbara began modeling and would later be crowned Miss San Francisco in 1951. She soon moved on 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 film debut in an uncredited role in Back from Eternity (1956).
Since 1964, Barbara has appeared in around 18 feature films, but none of them have been notable enough for her to break through. Simultaneously, she appeared in many television shows. Her supporting role on The Brass Bottle caught the attention of producer Sidney Sheldon who gave her the role of Jeannie on the fantastic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.
The sitcom premiered on NBC in 1965 and went on to become a hit, garner a cult following, and kickstart Eden’s career. The show aired for 5 years, for a total of 139 episodes. By the end of the show, Eden had become a staple of cinema. Her next big gig was the role of Stella Johnson in the feature film Harper Valley PTA (1978) which was about a popular country song.
Eden’s acting career began to fade in the mid-1990s. However, she occasionally made appearances. Her autobiography, Barbara Eden: My Story, was published in 1986, and in 2011 she published her memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle.
Alive or dead?
When an actor’s heyday is behind them and they become very quiet in the mainstream, the world begins to wonder if they are alive or dead? and for Eden, the case was no different. Barbara Eden is not dead but alive. She managed to stay active in her own way, creating an Instagram account where she updates fans from time to time about her life. In a bid to fit in with the modern world, Eden also has an eponymous website.
Net value
From singing in nightclubs to teenage popularity and Hollywood fame, Barbara Eden couldn’t be more proud of her accomplishments in life. In 1988, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His 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 August 29, 1965. She conceived him shortly after filming 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.
Sadly, Matt passed away on June 25, 2001 at the age of 35. He was found dead in his car following an accidental drug overdose. After her son’s death, Barbara experienced an emotional crisis that she wrote about in her 2011 memoir.
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. Some of his best known films 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 girlfriend Leanna Green in a wedding that was due to take place on September 1, 2001. He had no children.
Net Worth
One of Barbara Eden’s trademarks is her voluptuous figure which has stood the test of time. Her recent appearances show that time has done little to spoil Eden’s hourglass figure. Her measurements are 36 to 36 inches. Barbara Eden is 5 feet 3 inches tall.
