Jeannie Carson

 ( 1928 Births ) 

Carson acted in Love from Judy on stage in London. This debuted in 1951 and ran until 1953; the BBC broadcast a film version. Carson was also in the film Love in Pawn (1953). After producer Max Liebman saw her in Love from Judy, he signed her to a contract to appear on television in the United States, starting with a six-episode Color television version of the Broadway musical Best Foot Forward and then in a version of Heidi. In January 1953 she released her first recording on the newly formed Philips Records label, "Barrels and Barrels of Roses".

Carson was in two films for J. Lee Thompson co-starring Diana Dors, As Long as They're Happy (1955) and An Alligator Named Daisy (1955). In October 1956, John Davis, managing director of Rank, announced her as one of the actors under contract to Rank that Davis thought would become an international star.

In 1956, she starred in her own series Hey, Jeannie!, which aired on CBS. The series lasted one season before being cancelled in 1957, although six new episodes with a revamped format were broadcast in syndication in 1958 with the title The Jeannie Carson Show, and reruns of Hey, Jeannie! were aired in primetime during the summer of 1960, also under the title The Jeannie Carson Show. In the U.S., Carson guest-starred on episodes of What's My Line?, Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre ("A Dangerous Thing"), Wagon Train ("The Annie MacGregor Story" S1 E21 1958) and General Electric Theatre ("Time to Go Now"). On TV she acted in versions of Little Women, Berkeley Square, and A Kiss for Cinderella.

In Britain, Carson was the female lead in Rockets Galore (1958). In 1960 she was in a short-lived revival of Finian's Rainbow on Broadway theatre. Carson appeared in the British film Seven Keys (1961) and on TV starred in versions of Quillow and the Giant, What Every Woman Knows, and The Rivals. She took over the role of Maria in The Sound of Music on Broadway in 1962. In 1969, she appeared as Marcy Vincente on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Academy Awards-winning actress Anne Revere played her mother, and Anthony George played her husband. The following year, Carson was in Blood Red Roses on Broadway.