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Eric Braeden
Braeden in 2013
Born	Hans-Jörg Gudegast (1941-04-03) April 3, 1941 (age 83) Bredenbek, Free State of Prussia, Germany (present-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)
Education	University of Montana
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–present
Spouse	Dale Russell ​(m. 1966)​
Children	Christian Gudegast
Website	ericbraeden.com

Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor, known for his roles as Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, Dr. Charles Forbin in Colossus: The Forbin Project, as Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and as John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 film Titanic. He won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless.

Early life

Braeden was born Hans-Jörg Gudegast on April 3, 1941 in Bredenbek, Germany (near Kiel), a small village in northern Germany where his father was once mayor.

Career

Braeden accumulated many TV and film credits during his first two decades in America, and guest-starred in 120 roles. His earliest credits were all under his birth name, Hans Gudegast.

During the 1960s, he appeared in several episodes of TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962–1967) Combat!, always playing a German soldier. In 1965, he appeared in a film called Morituri starring Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner, and guest-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as T.H.R.U.S.H. agent Mr. Oakes in "The Discotheque Affair", season two, episode five.

In 1966, he guest-starred as Luftwaffe Major Bentz in episode 28, "Day of Reckoning", of season two of the TV series Twelve O'Clock High (a series which was very loosely based on the classic 1949 war film with the same name) and also appeared in an episode of the 1966 espionage drama series Blue Light. His main character for the next two years was his regular starring role playing German Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Dietrich on the TV series The Rat Patrol (1966–1968),

He starred in the 1969 Western 100 Rifles with Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, and Jim Brown (noted for the first big-screen interracial love scene between Welch and Brown), once again playing a villainous German military officer opposite Fernando Lamas. This was his last credit under his birth name.

His starring role in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), was when he first took the stage name of Eric Braeden. Lew Wasserman of Universal Pictures told him that no one would be allowed to star in an American film if he or she had a German name. After much thought, he took the name Braeden from his hometown of Bredenbek.

His other movie appearances in the 1970s included the role of Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), and that of the arrogant but formidable race-car driver, Bruno von Stickle, in Walt Disney's 1977 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. Throughout the 1970s, he also guest-starred in a variety of television shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and also appeared in several episodes of the long-running CBS Western series Gunsmoke.

In addition to many episodic roles, Braeden also appeared as Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. Braeden told Cindy Elavsky that filming the scene in Titanic, in which his character drowned, "was one of the scariest moments in this business for me."

Victor Newman

In 1980, he was offered the role of self-made business magnate Victor Newman on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Initially, the role was for a 26-week run. His character imprisoned his wife's lover, and became so popular the character became a love-to-hate villain, and his contract was extended.

Braeden won a Daytime Emmy for his work in 1998. In February 2017 he celebrated his 37th anniversary with the show. In 2020, the show marked Braeden's 40th anniversary as Victor onscreen.

In October 2009, Braeden and The Young and the Restless came to an impasse regarding contract negotiations, and press reports indicated he might leave the show. CBS later announced, though, that Braeden had inked a new three-year deal and would remain with the show, agreeing to a reduction in salary, which was the original issue.

Personal life

In 1958, Braeden, under his birth name Hans-Jörg Gudegast, won the Germany National Team Championship in track and field (discus, shot put, and javelin) with the Rendsburger TSV. Braeden later went on to win the 1973 National Challenge Cup as a fullback with the Jewish American soccer club Maccabi Los Angeles, scoring the winning goal in the semifinal game and a penalty kick in the championship game against Chicago Croatian. In the 1970s/80s, he could often be seen boxing at the Hoover Street and Broadway gyms in Los Angeles. He was a tennis player and has participated in many celebrity events.

He married his college sweetheart Dale Russell in 1966. His son, Christian, is a director who created the film Den of Thieves, starring Gerard Butler.

Health

In April 2023, Braeden announced he was diagnosed with "high-grade" bladder cancer. He discovered his cancer diagnosis while recovering from knee-replacement surgery and while undergoing prostate-related treatment. In August 2023, Braeden revealed he was now cancer-free.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

See also

• Victor Newman and Nikki Reed
• Supercouple
• Distinguished German-American of the Year

References

1. "My son CHRISTIAN GUDEGAST with EX UFC WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION CYRIL GANE and DUTCH K1 WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, RICO VERHOEVEN on set of my son's film DEN OF THIEVES 2!". facebook.com.
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4. Weaver, Tom. "Eric Braeden Interview". In I Talked with a Zombie: Interviews with 23 veterans of Horror and Sci-fi Films and Television, McFarland, 2009, pp. 11–12
5. Elavsky, Cindy (2012-03-16). "Celebrity Extra". Downriver Sunday Times. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
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8. "TV Iron Man Eric Braeden Marks 40 Years on 'Young and the Restless'". 14 February 2020.
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12. "'Young and the Restless' star Eric Braeden reveals cancer diagnosis". MSN. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
13. "'Young and the Restless' star Eric Braeden says he has cancer — and reveals common symptom he had". Yahoo. 24 April 2023.
14. "Eric Braeden, 'Young and the Restless' star, says he's now cancer-free". CNN. 15 August 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
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28. "Soap Awards France 2017 : Hélène Rollès, Les Mystères de l'amour, Ambroise Michel, Terre de passions, Eric Braeden... le palmarès complet". France: toutelatele.com and Médiamétrie. June 1, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
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External links

• Eric Braeden at IMDb
• Eric Braeden at AllMovie
• Eric Braeden at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Interview with Eric Braeden. Accessed February 11, 2017

• 1941 births
• Living people
• 20th-century German male actors
• 21st-century German male actors
• American men's soccer players
• Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winners
• Daytime Emmy Award winners
• Emigrants from West Germany to the United States
• German male film actors
• German male soap opera actors
• German male television actors
• Men's association football fullbacks
• People from Rendsburg-Eckernförde
• People from the Province of Schleswig-Holstein
• Shipwreck survivors
• University of Montana alumni
• Western (genre) television actors
• 20th-century American sportsmen