Happy Birthday Barbara (Jeannie) Eden

If you're a baby boomer or just like to watch reruns on TV Land, you know that classic 1960's sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie". Today, the star of that show Barbara Eden celebrates her 77th birthday. The Frog Days of Summer certainly have had their share of celebrity birthdays.

"Jeannie" was the first big break for Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden's co-star, long before he went to Dallas as J.R. Ewing.

According to Wikipedia:

Eden was born Barbara Jean Morehead in Tucson, Arizona, the daughter of Alice Mary (née Franklin) and Hubert Henry Morehead. Her parents divorced when she was three; she and her mother Alice moved to San Francisco where later her mother married Harrison Connor Huffman, a telephone lineman.

Eden starred in I Dream of Jeannie as Jeannie, a genie set free from her bottle by astronaut and USAF captain (later major) Anthony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman (played by Wayne Rogers in I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later). She was initially passed over for the role as she was blonde and of small stature, but Sidney Sheldon called on her when he was unable to find a suitable brunette to play the part. I Dream of Jeannie was a mild success in the ratings, and it ran from 1965 until 1970, and during this time Eden was nominated twice for Golden Globe Awards. She later reprised her Jeannie role in two made-for-TV reunion movies (I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later in 1985 and I Still Dream of Jeannie in 1991), and in the last scene of the theatrical movie A Very Brady Sequel. I Dream of Jeannie has gone on to international syndication.