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It\u2019s hard to imagine anyone other than Barbara Eden<\/strong> in the starring role of I Dream of Jeannie<\/em>. But the actress herself wasn\u2019t originally sure she would be a good fit for the role in the iconic 1960s sitcom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eden, 94, played the mischievous blonde genie opposite Larry Hagman\u2019s<\/strong> astronaut character, Major Tony Nelson, for five seasons on the NBC<\/a> fantasy comedy, from 1965 to 1970. She became famous for her signature eye blink and belly-baring chiffon harem outfit, but initially assumed an exotic-looking brunette would be hired for the part.<\/p>\n In a new interview, Eden told People<\/em><\/a> magazine<\/a> she \u201cdidn’t audition\u201d for the role of Jeannie but knew the type of women who were in the running.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had every tall brunette, winner of many beauty contests, they were testing,\u201d she told the outlet. \u201cI thought, ‘Oh, it’s not for me.’ The Middle Eastern girl, and that’s what they wanted. I’m a blonde, short blonde.\u201c<\/p>\n Eden added that her agent sent her a script and told her that series creator, Sidney Sheldon, wanted her for the role.<\/p>\n “He said, ‘You have the part,\u2019\u201d Eden recalled. \u201cAnd I said, ‘Do they know what I look like?’\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Once she accepted the role, Eden found out unexpected news.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so happy during those years. I was doing what I wanted to do to make my living,\u201d she once told Buzzfeed<\/a>. \u201cMy husband (Michael Ansara), at the time, and I really wanted to have a baby, and it wasn’t happening, Then NBC picked up I Dream of Jeannie<\/em>, and we got pregnant!”<\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t expect to stay in the show, and I really didn’t care at that time,\u201d she admitted.\u00a0\u201cI was just so happy to have a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n During an appearance on the I Choose Me with Jennie Garth<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0Eden noted that she found out about her pregnancy on the same day she was told that\u00a0Jeannie<\/em>\u00a0was going to go on the air. She immediately called Sheldon, fully expecting that her role would be recast.<\/p>\n \u201cI sat down there with a big grin on my face and said, \u2018You know, I’m pregnant, and I can’t do your show. I just had to let you know so you could recast it,\u2019\u201c she recalled telling the showrunner.<\/p>\n Sheldon said he still wanted to see if it could all be worked out, and in the end, producers decided to hide Eden\u2019s pregnancy with strategic props and flowy clothing to cover her belly.<\/p>\n Eden was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for her role in I Dream of Jeannie<\/em>.<\/p>\n Related: Erin Murphy Announces New TV Show 54 Years After \u2018Bewitched\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally published by <\/em>Parade<\/a><\/em> on Jul 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the <\/em>Entertainment<\/a><\/em> section. Add Parade as a <\/em>Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s hard to imagine anyone other than Barbara Eden in the starring role of I Dream of Jeannie. But the actress herself wasn\u2019t originally sure she would be a good fit for the role in the iconic 1960s sitcom. Eden, 94, played the mischievous blonde genie opposite Larry Hagman\u2019s astronaut character, Major Tony Nelson, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2489145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Melissa-Gilbert-Celebrates-Dick-Van-Dykes-100th-Birthday-With-Throwback.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2489145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2489146,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489145\/revisions\/2489146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2489145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2489145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2489145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}