Eric Braeden

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.<ref name="SOD stats"/><ref name="Emmy 1998">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="SOD stats">Template:Cite news</ref>

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.

File:Eric Braeden Hans Gudegast The Rat Patrol 1966.JPG

Braeden in The Rat Patrol, 1966

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.<ref>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</ref>

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.

File:Eric Braeden (Los Angeles, July 2007).jpg

Braeden in July 2007

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."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2020, Braeden celebrated his 40th anniversary with the show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="2007sow">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

He married his college sweetheart Dale Russell in 1966. Their son, Christian Gudegast, is a director who created the film Den of Thieves, starring Gerard Butler.<ref name="2007sow"/>

Health

In April 2023, Braeden announced he was diagnosed with "high-grade" bladder cancer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He discovered his cancer diagnosis while recovering from knee-replacement surgery and while undergoing prostate-related treatment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In August 2023, Braeden revealed he was now cancer-free.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	Operation Eichmann	Klaus
1962–1964	Combat!	Corporal Hans Gruber / Sergeant Ecktmann	6 episodes
1965	Morituri	Radio Officer	UncreditedTemplate:Citation needed
	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Mr. Oakes	Episode: "The Discotheque Affair"
	12 O'Clock High	Major Gerhard Bentz / Captain Zoller	2 episodes
1966–1967	Mission: Impossible	Andrei Fetyakov / Marcus Von Frank	2 episodes
1966–1968	The Rat Patrol	Captain Hans Dietrich	58 episodes
1966	The Virginian	Augustin	Episodes: "No Drums, No Trumpets"
1968	Dayton's Devils	Max Eikhart
1969	100 Rifles	Lieutenant Franz Von Klemme
1969–1973	Hawaii Five-O	Djebara / Klaus Marburg / Dr. Paul Farrar	3 episodes
1970	The Mask of Sheba	Dr. Morgan	TV movie
	Colossus: The Forbin Project	Dr. Charles A. Forbin
	The Young Rebels	Major Zanker	Episode: "The Hostages"
1971	Escape from the Planet of the Apes	Dr. Otto Hasslein
	Mannix	Viktor Gruniev	Episode: “Woman in the Shadows”
	Bearcats!	Colonel Reinert	Episode: "Dos Gringos"
1971–1974	Gunsmoke	Jack Sinclair / Talley / Carl Jaekel	5 episode
1972	The Judge and Jake Wyler	Anton Granicek	TV movie
1973	McCloud	Ravik	Episode: "The Million Dollar Round Up"
	Lady Ice	Peter Brinker
	The Six Million Dollar Man	Findletter	TV movie
	Death Race	Stoeffer	TV movie
	The Adulteress	Hank Baron
1973–1975	Barnaby Jones	Hans / Jennings / Raven / Steven Kingston	2 episodes
1974	Banacek	Paul Bolitho	Episode: "The Vanishing Chalice"
	The Ultimate Thrill	Roland Parlay
	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Bernhardt Stieglitz	Episode: "The Werewolf"
1975	Death Scream	Kosinsky	TV movie
1976	Cannon	Carl Bruckner	Episode: “The Quasar Kill”
1975–1978	Wonder Woman	Donalsen / Captain Drangel	2 episodes
1977	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Karl Heller	Episode: "The Critic"
	Kojak	Kenneth Krug	Episode: "When You Hear the Beep, Drop Dead"
	Code Name: Diamond Head	Ernest Graeber	TV movie
	Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo	Bruno Von Stickle
1978	The Eddie Capra Mysteries	Leo	Episode: "Murder! Murder!"
	Piranha	Dr. Robert Hoak (swimming double)	UncreditedTemplate:Citation needed
1979	CHiPs	Senator Bob Larwin	Episode: "MAIT Team"
1980	The Aliens Are Coming	Leonard Nero	TV movie
1980–present	The Young and the Restless	Victor Newman
1981	Charlie's Angels	John Reardon	Episode: "Attack Angels"
1986	Airwolf	Nick Kincaid	Episode: "Birds of Paradise"
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Colonel Gerhardt Brunner	Episode: "One White Rose for Death"
1990	The Ambulance	The Doctor
	Lucky Chances	Dimitri Stanislopolous	3 episodes
1993	Perry Mason: Wicked Wives	David Morrison
1994	The Nanny	Frank Bradley Sr.	Episode: "Sunday in the Park with Fran"
1995	Diagnosis: Murder	Himself	Episode: "Death in the Daytime"
1997	Titanic	John Jacob Astor IV
1998	Meet the Deedles	Elton Deedle
1999	The Bold and the Beautiful	Victor Newman	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>)
2008	The Man Who Came Back	Reese Paxton
2008	How I Met Your Mother	Robin Scherbatsky Sr.	Episode: "Happily Ever After"
2018	Den of Thieves	"Ziggy" Zerhusen

Awards and nominations

List of awards and nominations for Eric Braeden

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Template:Abbr
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role on a Daytime Serial	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
1987 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role: Daytime	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role: Daytime	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Distinguished German-American of the Year	N/A	Himself	Template:Won
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor: Daytime	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
1990 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor: Daytime	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
1992 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Male Performer In A Daytime Serial	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Hottest Male Star	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Hottest Male Star	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
1996 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1997 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor: Daytime	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1998 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
1999 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Favourite Actor	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2000 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
2004 {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Lead Actor	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Hollywood Walk of Fame	N/A	Himself	Template:Won
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Gilmore Award the Pacific Pioneers, a radio and television industry group	N/A	Himself	Template:Won
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Friend of German Award from the American Association of Teachers of German	N/A	Himself	Template:Won
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Awards France	Best Villain of the Year	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Awards France	Best Actor of the Year	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Awards France	Best Villain of the Year	The Young and the Restless	Template:Nom	{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}
check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}	Soap Hub Awards	Favorite The Young and the Restless Actor	The Young and the Restless	Template:Won	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

See also

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

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 967

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• Interview with Eric Braeden. Accessed February 11, 2017