Barbara Eden told she 'won't make it' in Hollywood without 'big breasts'
Barbara Eden was "shocked" when a casting director told her she was not the "Hollywood type" and "won't make it" because the star did not have "big breasts".
Barbara Eden was told by a casting director she "won't make it" in Hollywood as the actress did not have "big t***".
The I Dream of Jeannie star was left "shocked" by the humiliating encounter after arriving in Los Angeles in the 1950s to break into showbiz.
She recalled to Entertainment Weekly: "When I first came down [to] L.A., I was sent by a friend of a friend who knew the casting director at Warner Brothers, and I didn’t know how to drive - you know, live in San Francisco, you don’t drive a car usually, right?
"My uncle drove me over to Warner Bros. for the interview, and he waited outside.
"I went in, and the man was, 'OK,' kind of abrupt. And he said, 'Look ... you’re just not the type. You’re not. You’re not Hollywood type.'"
The casting director pulled out a photo to show Barbara exactly what he meant by "Hollywood type".
She continued: "He said, 'This is what they want. This is a picture of my daughter. Big t***.'
"Can you believe? I mean, and of course .... nowadays that wouldn’t be a big deal, but I wasn’t raised for a man in my family to even say the word ‘t***’ ... Lord, I was just shocked.
"He said, 'You’re a pretty enough girl,' he said, 'But you’re not beautiful ... You won’t make it. Go home and marry the boyfriend at home.'"
However, Hollywood soon proved the casting director wrong, just five months later.
Barbara, now 95, said: "I don’t know if he even remembered, like five months later. "[An acting] coach at Warner Bros. invited me to be a part of their class, which I was happy to do.
"And I was walking down to get to the class, and I heard, 'Hey, hey, you,' and I thought, 'Oh boy, just keep going,' because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there. And, 'Hey, you in the yellow pants?!' Well, I had yellow slacks on. I turned around and guess who it was?"
The entertainer was stunned when that casting director made a U-turn and offered Barbara a screen test, having written her off months earlier.
She recounted: "My heart dropped down to my feet, and I thought, 'Oh boy, this is it.'
"And he said, 'Are you in here seeing [the acting coach]?' I said, 'Yes, I am.' He said, 'Have they tested you yet?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'OK, we’re going to test you.'
"Can you believe that?"
Barbara went on to become a household name, appearing in films such as 1960's Flaming Star and 1964's The Brass Bottle, as well as TV shows, including How to Marry a Millionaire, which ran from 1957 until 1959, and Brand New Life, which was broadcast from 1989 until 1990.
