Thu Oct 29, 2009

ON THURSDAY'S SHOW:

Eric Braeden (born April 3, 1941) is a German-born film and television actor, best known for his role as Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Braeden won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role. Eric Braeden was born Hans Jörg Gudegast in Bredenbek, Germany (near Kiel) where his father was once mayor. He emigrated to the USA in 1959. In the United States, Braeden attended The University of Montana in Missoula. Although an American citizen, he also considers himself a loyal citizen of Germany, and holds dual citizenship. He has been awarded many German civic awards. Braeden accumulated many TV and film credits during his first two decades in America, most notably a role as the German Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Dietrich 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 and as a guest star in several episodes of the CBS western Gunsmoke. He also appeared, uncredited, as Bradford Dillman's de facto stunt double in the 1978 film Piranha--Braeden had originally been cast to play Dillman's character, Paul Grogan, and had shot some underwater swimming footage before the role was recast; Braeden's stunt footage ended up in the finished film anyway.

In 1980, he was offered the role of self-made magnate Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless 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 renewed. Still on the show today, Braeden won a Daytime Emmy for his work in 1998. In 1997, he played Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the blockbuster film Titanic, picked because he strongly resembled the powerful millionaire. His current project, "The Man Who Came Back," an independent Western film of double-cross and revenge, is written and directed by Louisiana's Glen Pitre. Braeden recently starred in a How I Met Your Mother episode (November 3rd, 2008) as Robin Sr., Robin's father, trying to make his daughter act like the son he never had. He then has an emotional breakdown when he realizes that he "has no son". Braeden is regarded as a very good tennis player. He and his wife, Dale Gudegast, were witnesses at the wedding of Bob Crane and Sigrid Valdis while on the set of Hogan's Heroes. Their son, Christian Gudegast, is a screenwriter who co-wrote the film A Man Apart and is the father of a daughter. Actor Clarence Williams III and former boxer Ken Norton are two of his best friends. He recently received a star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame".