Barbara Eden

Candid story of a lovely actress

Miss Eden recalls the highs and lows of her personal and professional life in this easy read book.

The stories are mostly brief but get the points across, describing her exposure to Hollywood as a stock player, her success in I Dream of Jeannie, and her continuing career. Most enlightening are the snips about other famous actors/actresses, including Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, and of course Larry Hagman.

The later chapters cover her second and third marriages, as well as the drug struggles and eventual death of her son, Matthew.

Easy to read, and ends fairly abruptly. This book might well benefit from an update, or would have been better with more details of her later years. I did enjoy the book but found myself wanting more.… (més)

Anyone over the age of 30 must remember I Dream of Jeannie, and with the popularity of “retro” television channels I am sure Jeannie has a whole new audience in this century as well. Ms. Eden’s autobiography is well told and entertaining. She lets us in on some behind the scenes secrets of the show, she shares her personal triumphs as well as tragedies. Ms. Eden is definitely known for her role as Jeannie, but she had such a wide and varied career that I had not idea about until reading this book.

I enjoyed the book because of its casual style, making it seem as if Ms. Eden is actually talking to the reader. She drops many names and lets the reader in on some juicy gossip but, in my opinion, she portrays herself as a little too clean cut. It may all be true, but still makes me go hmmm?
… (més)

The other reviews have pretty much said it. There is a lot of name dropping here but it's her story to write so whatever. My biggest disappointment was that "Harper Valley PTA" barely got a mention, and most of that mention was trashing the writers (probably deserved it but..) that show was a hit when I was 10 or 11, and I remember dressing up like her character for Halloween (of course no one knew who I was but...). She spends a lot of time trashing Larry H., so much so that I actually skipped past many pages because I was tired of reading it.

If you are a fan of Barbara Eden's give it a read. If you are a fan of biographies/autobiographies in general you can skip this one. This isn't the best autobiography/biography out there but it's probably your only chance to hear her story in her words (with an assistant).… (més)