ERIC BRAEDEN Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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ERIC BRAEDEN

Name: Eric Braeden                                                                 
Birth name: Hans Jörg Gudegast                                                     
Born: 3 April 1941 Bredenbek, Germany                                               
                                                                                   
Eric Braeden (born Hans Jörg Gudegast on April 3, 1941) is an Emmy Award-winning   
German film and television actor, best known for his role as Victor Newman on       
the soap opera The Young and the Restless.                                         
                                                                                   
Eric Braeden was born in Bredenbek, Germany (near Kiel), where his father was       
once mayor, and emigrated to the USA in 1959. While an American citizen, he also   
considers himself a loyal citizen of Germany, and holds dual citizenship. He has   
been awarded many German civics awards.                                             
                                                                                   
Braeden accumulated many TV and film credits during his first two decades in       
America, most notably a role on the TV series The Rat Patrol (1966-1968), as       
well as a starring role in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), in       
which he first took the stage name of Eric Braeden, and a supporting role in the   
1971 film Escape from the Planet of the Apes. He was also kept busy during the     
early 1970s in a variety of guest starring roles in such TV series as The Mary     
Tyler Moore Show and Wonder Woman.                                                 
                                                                                   
In 1980, he was offered the role of self-made magnate Victor Newman on The Young   
and the Restless for a 26 week run. Upon imprisoning his wife's lover, the         
character became a love-to-hate villain, and his contract was renewed. Still on     
the show today, Braeden won a Daytime Emmy for his work in 1998.                   
                                                                                   
In late December 1991, Braeden and Peter Bergman had a physical altercation         
backstage. According to press reports, after exchanging bitter words onset,         
Braeden showed up at Bergman's dressing room door to further discuss the matter     
and violence ensued. Since then, the actors have resolved their differences and     
now enjoy a cordial relationship.                                                   
                                                                                   
In 1997, he played Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the blockbuster film Titanic.     
                                                                                   
During the early 1970s, Braeden appeared as a guest star in several episodes of     
the CBS western Gunsmoke.                                                           
                                                                                   
His current project "The Man Who Came Back," an independent Western film of         
double-cross and revenge, is written and directed by Louisiana's own Glen Pitre.