A dream come true: Barbara Eden makes special appearance at Salt Lake Comic Con
Barbara Eden and the late Larry Hagman portrayed Jeannie and Major Anthony Nelson in the classic television series "I Dream of Jeannie."
Barbara Eden attends the Life Ball in Vienna, Austria in 2013.
Barbara Eden, who portrayed Genie in the cult classic "I Dream of Genie" is one of the many celebrities slotted for an appearance at Salt Lake Comic Con this week.
Though you may want to pinch yourself, we’re happy to let you know that you’re really not dreaming, and Jeannie herself has made her way to Utah for Salt Lake Comic Con.
“I’m excited about seeing the city again,” said actress and singer Barbara Eden, who portrayed the blonde bombshell Jeannie in the television series “I Dream of Jeannie.” “It’s been many years [since I was in Salt Lake]. Many, many years.”
Though many celebrities are packing the panels and guest booths this weekend at Comic Con, not all of them have the same diverse history and talent as Eden.
Eden was born in 1931 in Tuscon, Ariz., though she spent many of her formative years growing up in San Francisco. Though she had a talent for the arts and music, the Great Depression kept her from taking lessons until one day a friend of her mother’s generously gifted her a $100 bill to begin her studies.
“That was a lot of money in those days,” Eden said of the gift. “[After that], I started singing at the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco. I had always sung in our church choir. That was how I started. Then one day my mom heard me singing something I was practicing for the conservatory. She said, ‘Barbara, every note is perfect, but you don’t mean a word of it. You should study acting.’ By then I was 15 years old. So I got a job in a bank downtown after school for money to study acting. I did and I guess that was the end of that. I didn’t sing a lot after that until ‘Jeannie.’ “
According to Eden, though she had and loved many other roles, Jeannie was one of her favorites.
“[Playing her] was fun,” she said. “She had no boundaries and a lot of power, but it was positive. Everything she did was positive, and I love the fact that it was new to her. Everything was new to her. She was really a fish out of water and loved it. She wanted to do the best for her master and she tried.”
Eden portrayed Jeannie on the show for five seasons and 139 episodes before its cancellation. Though Eden said there were times when the character slipped from her mind as she focused on other things, Jeannie will always be an important part of her life.
“I have hundreds and hundreds of memories,” she said of the show. “It’s difficult to talk about it, because right at the moment it’s so real, it’s so there. It’s still on the air. … I think for every actor we play a lot of characters and it’s always a little piece of us in order to understand this person. Luckily Jeannie has always been my friend. … Many people don’t want to be remembered for what they were really famous for. They would prefer the audience to not remember that. I think that’s a mistake. An actor’s work is never finished. The characters are always there.”
According to Eden, that wisdom stands true for many of her other roles, including those she portrayed in films and shows such as “Doctor Kildare,” “Ride the Wild Surf,” “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and “7 Faces of Dr. Lao.”
One of Eden’s first characters, and according to her, “most fun,” actually came before her career began, thanks to the mother of her good friend Georgia.
“She was Mormon, and her mother was the musical director for their church,” Eden said of her friend. “One day Georgia said, ‘Would you like to come to a fireside chat?’ and I said, ‘Oh, sure.’ I’m Episcopalian, but that church sort of drops you when you’re a teenager, and there’s nothing to do but go to church on Sunday. So I went to the fireside chat and her mother put me in my very first lead in the musical, ‘Girl of the Golden West,’ I believe. It was the first time I was ever on stage. I’d never sang … It was my very first role and the most fun.”
According to Eden, she also joined her friend Georgia on several church camping trips before the pair graduated. It was also Georgia who introduced her to the Utah Valley, and, of course, Provo.
“When we graduated, I asked Georgia where she was going and what she was doing,” Eden said. “I was staying in San Francisco and going to San Francisco College. She said she was going to Provo. I asked her why she wanted to go so far away and she said, ‘Well, I want to get a husband.’ “
According to Eden, she has also visited Utah herself a few times, though each visit has come with its own quirks.
“The first time I was about 8 years old,” she said. “I was there with my aunt and uncle and grandmother. We went on trip to the Grand Canyon and everything and he took us to Salt Lake City. I immediately got a bloody nose and wasn’t able to see anything. I wasn’t able to hear the choir sing either, but I have made up for that — I have all the Christmas records.”
The second time Eden headed to Utah was to visit her sister for Thanksgiving. What happened next was a disastrous hours long episode of attempting to roast a turkey that, according to Eden, was also hours of memorable fun.
Eden said she’s definitely looking forward to another trip to Utah, especially so she can meet her fans.
“I have, I think, the nicest fan base in the world,” she said. “I really do. I have a website and I read it and I see these people and they’re all over the world. It’s extremely gratifying I’m so grateful that they’re still watching ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and still remember me. I love meeting them. I have never met anyone that’s nasty. They’re all well-spoken and well-mannered. It’s a joy to meet them.”