Barbara Eden

Everyone has to start somewhere. For Barbara Eden, her first performance in front of an audience was during her childhood when she sang the solo sections for a local choir. Soon after, she helped cover whatever personal loans her family had by working as a vocalist for bands. She also tried her hand at competing in beauty pageants along the way. Needless to say, all these ventures helped boost her growing popularity.

Eden made her way to showbiz in 1955, appearing as a semi-regular in The Johnny Carson Show. She then had the chance to work on other projects, including the 1960 film Flaming Star, which had her co-star with the late rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley and The Brass Bottle. After a producer saw her performance in the latter-mentioned movie, Eden was offered the opportunity to portray the lead titular character in the series I Dream of Jeannie. She has become near-synonymous with the character since then.