Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead, August 23, 1931) is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer, best known for her starring role of "Jeannie" in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.\n', '

Eden was born in 1931 in Tucson, Arizona, to Alice Mary (née-Franklin; 1915–1986) and Hubert Morehead (1911–1974). For decades, her year of birth was thought to be 1934, an age fabrication of three years. After her parents\' divorce, she and her mother moved to San Francisco, where her mother married Harrison Connor Huffman, a telephone lineman, by whom she had a daughter, Eden\'s half-sister. The Great Depression deeply impacted the family, and as they were unable to afford many luxuries, Alice entertained her children with singing.\n', '

Eden\'s first public performance was singing in the church choir, where she sang the solos. As a teenager, she sang in local bands for $10 (approx. equiv. $130 in 2017) a night in night clubs. At age 16, she became a member of Actor\'s Equity, and studied singing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and acting with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco in the Spring Class of 1949 and studied theater for one year at City College of San Francisco. As Barbara Huffman, she was elected Miss San Francisco in 1951 and she also entered the Miss California pageant.\n', '

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