Eric Braeden

Eric Braeden was born Hans Gudegast in Kiel, Germany, and emigrated to the United States. After making his mark in prime-time (The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke) and film (Colossus: The Forbin Project, Escape From the Planet of the Apes), he joined joined the cast of Young and Restless as one daytime’s most iconic characters, self-made tycoon Victor Newman, in 1980. His work on the soap has earned Braeden numerous Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and he brought home the trophy for Outstanding Lead Actor in 1998. He has also received multiple Soap Opera Digest Award nods, winning Outstanding Lead Actor three times (in 1989, 1997, and 2001). The actor played John Jacob Astor in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic and brought Victor over to Y&R’s sister soap, Bold and Beautiful, in 1999. In 2017, he published a best-selling memoir, I’ll Be Damned. Braeden and his wife, Dale, have one son, Christian.