Saturday, February 25, 2023

I Dream Of Rolex: Larry Hagman & Barbara Eden



I Dream Of Rolex

Larry Hagman & Barbara Eden

Rolex Lady Date & Day-Date


What does I Dream Of Jeannie have in common with Rolex? They are both beautiful Timeless Classics that make people smile! I Dream Of Jeannie is one of the most iconic TV shows in history, right up there with I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show. 

I Dream Of Jeannie originally aired on TV in 1965 and ran to 1970, which covered 5 seasons and 139 episodes. The premise of the show was that a NASA Astronaut was in a rocket that was launched and went off-course and landed on a desert island, where he finds a beautiful genie in a bottle he opens, who calls him 'Master'. Probably every man's dream :-0




Larry Hagman passed away on November 23, 2012, and in the photo below, we see Barbara Eden who played Jeannie, and Larry Hagman who played Major Nelson on I Dream Of Jeannie, hanging out together not so long before he passed away, and notice both of them are still wearing their yellow gold Rolex watches!!!



So let's go back in The Rolex Time Machine and take a closer look at their Rolex watches. 



First we see Barbara Eden wearing her yellow gold Rolex Lady-Date model on Jubilee Bracelet.



The photo below of Barbara Eden was taken when she turned 90 years old and notice she is still wearing her yellow gold Rolex Lady Date. Today Barbara is 91 years young.



DALLAS


Next we see Larry Hagman who went on from playing Major Nelson on I Dream Of Jeannie, to playing J.R. Ewing on the epic TV Show Dallas. Dallas ran from 1978 to 1991, and was ultra successful. Larry Hagman is pictured below wearing his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date on Dallas.



In later episodes of Dallas, Larry Hagman's character started sporting his yellow gold Rolex "President" on a special special custom-made gold and leather strap with his J.R. initials on it, as seen below.



Larry Hagman reprised his role as J.R. Ewing on Dallas when it came back to TV in 2012, and in the photos below we see Larry Hagman wearing his Rolex Day-Date on his special JR Gold Band.








On I Dream Of Jeannie, Larry Hagman played the role of Air Force/ NASA Major Anthony Nelson. The show aired from 1965 to 1970 and in many ways it mirrored the times. Specifically, between 1965 and 1970, NASA went from Project Mercury to Gemini to Apollo. Project Mercury put the first American in space to orbit the Earth, and Apollo was the first to put a man on the moon. At the time, the NASA Astronauts were like the new cowboys. 









DEADLY ENCOUNTER

1982 Helicopter Action Movie

Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner

Reference 1680

In the photos below we see Larry Hagman in a different role, rockin' a different Rolex model–this time he is wearing a Rolex sports watch, which appears to be a Submariner Reference 1680 in Stainless Steel.



I received an email a decade ago from a reader of Jake's Rolex World who lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, named Luiz, and he sent me the following email:

Hi Mr. Jake...

My name is HEITOR AZEVEDO, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil... I´m a Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter pilot. I have two Rolex Submariner Supercase Ceramic... and I´m a great admirer of your blog and histories.

I saw a Larry Hagman´s movie from 1982. In the first scene, you can see Mr. Hagman proceeding a helicopter pre-flight check wearing a beautiful Rolex Submariner in the movie DEADLY ENCOUNTER.

I was looking for this movie, to watch the helicopters performances, but I was very surprised when in the first scene I saw Larry Hagman wearing a Submariner almost like my two 116610LN (I have one with steel bracelet and another one with a black rubber bracelet with white needlework line that I usualy wear to work).

I hope to have helped to improve your fantastic blog histories.

Thank you very much, best regards,
HEITOR AZEVEDO – Rio de Janeiro – Brazil.

Thank you so much Heitor, and yes I watched the whole movie and got some screen grabs of Larry Hagman wearing his stainless steel Submariner. By the way, Larry Hagman made this movie in 1981, while he was staring in Dallas. Dallas began in 1978 and ran until 1991. 


Watching this movie was a trip. The helicopter flying and stunts were fascinating, but it was really kind of a cheesy early 1980s movie. Think, Airwolf, meets Charlie's Angels, meets Star Wars, meets Miami Vice ;-) Either way, it is still a trip to see Larry Hagman rockin' a stainless steel Rolex Submariner.