Key Points
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Barbara Eden recalls working with Paul Newman in the 1960 drama From the Terrace before starring on I Dream of Jeannie.
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Director Mark Robson cast Eden opposite Newman after an earlier film opportunity fell through.
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Eden remembers Newman as the first major movie star she worked with, calling the experience “wonderful.”
Long before she worked her magic as the title character on the ’60s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, Barbara Eden found herself sharing the screen with one of Hollywood’s foremost leading men.
In an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly,Eden, now 95, recalls the first time she encountered a major celebrity — known for his piercing blue eyes and, later, his balsamic vinaigrette.
“My first encounter, I think, was Paul Newman,” Eden says.
A former Miss San Francisco, Eden began her acting career in the 1950s with appearances in various television programs including The Johnny Carson Show, I Love Lucy, and Perry Mason.
But she says her Hollywood breakthrough actually arrived on the stage, in a romantic comedy play that was also adapted into a film starring Ronald Reagan.
“I had done a play at the Laguna Theater called Voice of the Turtle,” Eden recalls. “I got really good reviews. I think it’s because no one knew who I was.”
She explains that her anonymity helped her achieve widespread word-of-mouth attention — everyone in town just had to see the stunning and talented Barbara Eden.
“All of a sudden, boom, there she is,” Eden recalls.
She adds that the L.A. Times wrote a “beautiful” review, which further helped the play gain traction in Tinseltown. One audience member happened to be Oscar-nominated director Mark Robson, who knew she had power in the business.
“He brought me to Fox [Studios]. He had seen me in the play, brought me to Fox, and did a test for his movie he was doing,” Eden says. “He wanted to cast me in the movie.”
However, Eden’s Hollywood dreams almost unraveled when the studio realized there was a different actress “they owed a movie to.”
“And so I was bumped,” Eden adds. “I didn’t have a contract with Fox. It was with Mark Robson. So I was out on the curb, as it was.”
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Thankfully, Eden’s Hollywood ambitions weren’t derailed for long, and her wildest wishes would soon be granted. She eventually signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and Robson later came calling with another opportunity — this time opposite one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
“Mark was doing a movie with Paul Newman, and he asked me to play a part in it, and I was happy to do that.”
Fresh off his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Newman had already cemented his status as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. For Eden, the chance to work with Newman proved to be a milestone in her career.
Eden portrayed the flirtatious socialite Clemmie Shreve in Robson’s 1960 film From the Terrace, a drama starring Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward. During a dinner party, Shreve spots the handsome navy veteran David Alfred Eaton (Newman) from across the room. She quickly darts over toward him, and the two engage in some suggestive banter, culminating in a stolen kiss.
“I only had one scene, and it was with Paul,” Eden says. “So that was the first time I had a really big star to work with. It was wonderful.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
