Barbara Eden already has an iconic legacy to leave behind thanks to the success of I Dream of Jeannie, though she recently revealed how she wants to be remembered by fans in the far future.
While speaking to People in an interview published on Saturday, October 4, Eden, 94, said she wants to be remembered for the way she made fans “laugh, made them happy, took them to another place.”
“I have so many people that come up to me and tell me that they had an awful childhood and that the only thing that helped them out was to go in their room and pretend it was a bottle,” she said, referencing her iconic character Jeannie’s tiny home.
Eden went on to state that hearing about the show from fans always “makes me sad and happy at the same time.”
She starred as the titular 2,000-year-old genie opposite Larry Hagman, who starred as astronaut Tony Nelson on the sitcom, which ran on NBC from 1965 and 1970.
While the show premiered 60 years ago, Eden still makes appearances at comic-cons and fan events around the world.
“I think I had nothing to do with it. It was the audience,” she said of the show’s longtime success. “I didn’t realize, actually, how popular Jeannie was until several years after, and it still amazes me.”
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Eden also said that she “can’t believe” the lasting legacy the show has had. “I have mail from Russia. Can you imagine?” she told the outlet. “I have fan mail from Russia and China and Japan, Poland, Italy, a lot from Germany and South America, the U.K. — and if you had told me that when we were shooting, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
While reflecting on fan encounters, Eden said that she’s often asked to do Jeannie’s signature move to cast a spell for them. “It’s magic. They always want magic,” she shared. “Magic is good.”
Eden reflected on the show’s success one week after she opened up about her chemistry with Hagman on the show.
“It was immediate, and I have no idea why, but it was,” she told People of their chemistry in a September 25 interview. “We just were on that same carpet, if you will. I believed him, and he believed me when we were working.”
In addition to starring on the show for five seasons, Eden appeared in two follow-up TV films. However, Hagman did not appear in either of the movies due to conflicts with his role as J.R. Ewing on the prime time soap opera Dallas.
“We couldn’t connect time where we were both free,” she said of why Hagman, who died at the age of 81 in 2012 from cancer complications, didn’t appear in the spinoff films. “I cannot remember. I remember the shows and doing them, but I don’t remember things happening.”
The actress continued, “I think they stand on their own. Yeah, I do. I’m really sorry Larry couldn’t do them, but he was very busy with Dallas.”
This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 4, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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