Eden tells PEOPLE that her iconic character is “always there”
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NEED TO KNOW
- Barbara Eden says the pilot episode of I Dream of Jeannie remains her favorite after nearly six decades
- The show, which aired from 1965 to 1970, continues to resonate globally through reruns and fan letters
- Eden reveals fans often found comfort in Jeannie’s bottle, calling the show a refuge during difficult times
Barbara Eden plays favorites.
At the premiere of the upcoming documentary Sock It to Me: The Legend of George Schlatter, the actress, 94, tells PEOPLE that her favorite episode of I Dream of Jeannie was “the pilot.”
“That definitely is the one I've always thought was the best," Eden shares at the Beverly Hills Film Festival on April 13.
The pilot, which premiered on NBC on Sept. 18, 1965, introduced families to Captain Anthony Nelson after his NASA rocket Stardust One misfired and fell to Earth near a desert island in the South Pacific. Captain Nelson, played by the late Larry Hagman, then stumbled across the bottle containing a 2,000-year-old genie, Jeannie, played by Eden.
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After getting over an initial language barrier, he asked Jeannie for a way to get off the island, and she summoned a helicopter. However, Captain Nelson then realized it would be hard to explain Jeannie to the helicopter pilot, and even harder to explain to the woman he's intended to marry, Melissa Stone, played by Karen Sharpe.
Hilarity ensued as the captain tried to balance convincing the other astronauts that he was not crazy, Melissa that he was not cheating on her with Jeannie, and Jeannie that he meant well. The episode, titled "The Lady in the Bottle," ended with Captain Nelson realizing it wouldn't be easy to be rid of Jeannie, setting up the rest of the series.
The show aired for five seasons from 1965 to 1970. Even over 55 years later, Eden says that Jeannie is “always there.”
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While the show officially ended decades ago, the actress notes that reruns have kept it very much alive over the years.
“She's always been on the air. Never been off," Eden says.
"I have lots of mail from Russia, from China, from places you'd never imagine, all over Europe, Spain, France, the U.K.,” Eden shares of the continued reach of the show.
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To this day, fans reach out to her with “thank yous” and to share “how much they enjoy it.”
“But a lot of times, many times, it's people who've been in trouble who've had a sad upbringing. And many told me that … the bottle to them was a refuge, Jeannie's bottle,” Eden reveals.
While some people turned to the show as an escape, Eden says it was “just happiness for me.”
“I loved it. I loved it," she tells PEOPLE. "Of course, once I left Jeannie, I did a lot of other things, but it was very fulfilling for me."
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