Barbara Eden Reveals Scary On-Set Incidents from ‘I Dream of Jeannie’
During her five-year run as the midriff-clad Jeannie on NBC’s fantasy comedy I Dream of Jeannie, Barbara Eden found herself in a slew of bizarre situations no actor would normally encounter. From stepping into paintings to battling pirates, Eden experienced plenty of unusual adventures, though few were ever truly dangerous. Except perhaps twice.
While filming many episodes, Jeannie was often shown lounging inside her bottle. Designed like a cozy one-woman harem, the opulent set featured jewel-toned walls, lush silk pillows, and curved architecture that simulated the bottle’s round shape, creating a whimsical, larger-than-life hideaway. But as in so many behind-the-scenes realities, the truth was not as it seemed.
The actual set was an above-ground alcove that Eden had to use a ladder to climb into for her scenes. On the show’s anniversary, Eden spilled a few of the secrets of the show, including the day the crew forgot about her inside the “bottle,” leaving her trapped inside the bottle, much like her character.
Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank
“I think the only time, and it was when the crew and Larry [Hagman] and the whole cast left me in the bottle at lunchtime and I was starving,” Eden told People. “I couldn’t get out of the bottle.”
“I had done the scene in the bottle, but I couldn’t get in or out of it. There was no ladder, and I yelled and I screamed,” said the actress.
But then the actress revealed it wasn’t the only time she was trapped on the set.
“But everything else was always comfortable. No, well, I was stuck in the safe. That wasn’t comfortable,” Eden remarked, seemingly referring to the four-part episode arc from season three, where her character was locked in a safe.
Eden was referring to the episode “Genie, Genie, Who’s Got the Genie?: Part I” of Season 3 Episode 16, in which Jeannie ends up inside a safe that is destined to be sent up on a rocket to the Moon.
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