Emmaline Henry

Emmaline Henry (November 1, 1928 – October 8, 1979) was an American actress and singer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whose career spanned stage, film, and television across three decades. She is perhaps best remembered for her recurring role as Amanda Bellows, the wife of Dr. Alfred Bellows, on the NBC situation comedy I Dream of Jeannie.

Henry began her professional life as a singer, performing on local radio during her teenage years. She traveled to Hollywood in the early 1950s and worked in the choruses of several musicals, during which time producers took note of her comic abilities. She toured in the stage musical Top Banana and later appeared in the film adaptation of that production. Her Broadway career ran from 1951 to 1960 and included the revue Vintage '60. She also succeeded Carol Channing in the Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Henry made her television debut in a 1955 episode of the ZIV production I Led Three Lives, followed by a role as a gun moll in the ZIV series Highway Patrol. She appeared on The Red Skelton Show in 1961 and went on to guest on The Farmer's Daughter, The Munsters, and Petticoat Junction. Her first starring television role came opposite John Astin in I'm Dickens, He's Fenster. In 1964–65 she played Nora, the wife of Mickey Rooney's character, in the sitcom Mickey, and she made a guest appearance on Bonanza in 1969.

Henry first appeared on I Dream of Jeannie in the show's first season in 1965, in episode eighteen, playing a magician's assistant named Myrt. She subsequently took on the recurring role of Amanda Bellows, accumulating 33 appearances across the series through its fifth and final season in 1970. Following the show's cancellation, she continued guest-starring on television, appearing on Love, American Style, The Bob Newhart Show, and the dramatic miniseries Backstairs at the White House. In 1971 she guest-starred in the final episode of Green Acres as Lillian Grant, the sister of a character played by Elaine Joyce, in an episode that served as a backdoor pilot rejected by CBS. She also appeared in a recurring role on Three's Company as J.C. Braddock, Chrissy's boss.

Her feature film credits include Divorce American Style (1967), Rosemary's Baby (1968), and Harrad Summer (1974). Her final screen appearance was in the Eight Is Enough episode "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do," which first aired on September 19, 1979.

Henry married actor Mark Roberts on November 1, 1969; the couple divorced in 1974. She died of a brain tumor on October 8, 1979, at the age of 50, and is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.