Eric Braeden
Highest Rated: 89% Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969)
Lowest Rated: 10% Meet the Deedles (1998)
Birthday: Apr 3, 1941
Birthplace: Bredenbek, Germany
A leading man best known as business wizard Victor Newman on the CBS daytime drama "The Young and the Restless," Eric Braeden has parlayed a German accent into a long-running TV career in America. Born in Germany during World War II, he was the son of the mayor of Bredenback, a small town near the port city of Kiel. When his father died in 1953, his mother turned to factory worker to support her four sons. At age 19, Braeden, then known by his birth name of Hans Gudegast, moved to the USA and resided with a cousin in Houston. After a short period at Montana State University on a track and field scholarship, he moved to Los Angeles to study at Santa Monica City College. After landing a bit part in "Operation Eichmann" (1961), he decided to become an actor. For much of the 1960s, Braeden/Gudegast was useful in Hollywood playing Germans in movies and TV programs set during World War II; he made numerous guest appearances on "Combat" and from 1966-1968 played Captain Dietrich, the adversary to "The Rat Patrol" (ABC). As the decade came to a close and realizing he was more or less typecast, the actor changed his name to Eric Braeden and attempted to reposition himself in Hollywood. He landed the lead in the feature "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (1970), a well-made thriller about a world where computers run amok. But screen stardom did not follow. Finding himself playing supporting roles in such fare as "Herbie Goes to Monaco" (1977), Braeden turned to the small screen, making several unsuccessful pilots and series guest appearances (usually as suave or unctuous villains). He was perhaps most memorable as a critic who verbally tears everything to shreds--even the WJM News--in a 1977 episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." In 1980, he accepted what was originally a three-month stint on the CBS soap "The Young and the Restless" in the role of ruthless businessman victor Newman. Braeden, however, clicked with both the audience and the creative powers, and has been one of the series leading men for close to two decades, earning five Daytime Emmy nominations for the role. With steady employment and a certain clout, he has accepted occasional roles in TV-movies and in features. In 1990, Braeden was well-cast as Dimitri Stanislopolous in "Jackie Collins' 'Lucky/Chances'" (CBS, 1990) and also embodied John Jacob Astor in James Cameron's Oscar-winning blockbuster "Titanic" (1997).
Photos
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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41% | 62% | Den of Thieves | Ziggy Zerhusen (Character) | $44.9M | 2018 |
No Score Yet | 19% | The Man Who Came Back | Reese Paxton (Character) | - | 2008 |
10% | 38% | Meet the Deedles | Elton Deedle (Character) | $4.4M | 1998 |
No Score Yet | 50% | A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives | David Morrison (Character) | - | 1993 |
No Score Yet | 48% | The Ambulance | The Doctor (Character) | - | 1990 |
No Score Yet | 46% | The Aliens Are Coming | Leonard Nero (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Power Within | Stephens (Character) | - | 1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happily Ever After | Ross Ford (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | 0% | Code Name: Diamond Head | Ernest Graeber (Character) | - | 1977 |
60% | 57% | Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo | Bruno Von Stickle (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The New, Original Wonder Woman | Captain Drangel (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | 71% | Death Scream | Kosinsky (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ultimate Thrill | Roland Parlay (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ultimate Chase | Roland Parlay (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War | Arlen Findletter (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Death Race | Stoeffer (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Adulteress | Hank Baron (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Judge and Jake Wyler | Anton Granicek (Character) | - | 1972 |
76% | 53% | Escape From the Planet of the Apes | Dr. Otto Hasslein (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bearcats | Col. Gustav Reinert (Character) | - | 1970 |
No Score Yet | 41% | 100 Rifles | Lt. Franz Von Klemme (Character) | - | 1969 |
89% | 76% | Colossus: The Forbin Project | Dr. Charles Forbin (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Quest | Dr. Roan Morgan (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Honeymoon With a Stranger | Frederico Caprio (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Mask of Sheba | Dr. Roan Morgan (Character) | - | 1969 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Young and the Restless | Victor Newman (Character) | 1984 1986 1994-1995 1999 2002 2004-2005 2011-2024 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Talk | Guest | 2011-2012 2017 2020 2022-2023 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tavis Smiley | Guest | 2017 |
84% | 85% | How I Met Your Mother | Robin Scherbatsky, Sr. (Guest Star) | 2008 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bold And The Beautiful, The Beginning | Victor Newman (Character) | 1999 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Diagnosis Murder | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | 71% | The Nanny | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
No Score Yet | 39% | Airwolf | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Charlie's Angels | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | CHiPs | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1979 |
100% | 79% | Wonder Woman | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | How the West Was Won | Francis Britten (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Six Million Dollar Man | Victor Cheraskin (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kojak | Kenneth Krug (Guest Star) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Karl Heller (Guest Star) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cannon | Carl Bruckner (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bronk | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Barnaby Jones | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1973 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Rookies | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1974 |
100% | 85% | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Pastor Goodleigh (Guest Star) | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gunsmoke | Talley (Guest Star) | 1971 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | McCloud | Ravik (Guest Star) | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mannix | Viktor Gruniev (Guest Star) | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rat Patrol | Capt. Hauptman Hans Dietrich (Character) | 1966-1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jericho | Unknown (Character) | 1966-1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 12 O'Clock High | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1965-1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wackiest Ship in the Army | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1965 |
100% | No Score Yet | The Man From U.N.C.L.E. | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Combat! | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1964 |