Bold and Beautiful: John McCook Admits Frustration With Eric’s Lack of Screen Time
Daytime Emmy-winner John McCook is celebrating a career milestone next week: On March 23, The Bold and the Beautiful marks the 39th anniversary of its premiere on CBS, and as one of the show’s two remaining original cast members, that date is also the 39th anniversary of his own debut as Eric Forrester. But, the 81-year-old actor admitted in a candid new interview with TV Insider, it hasn’t escaped his notice that he’s not working as much as he once did.
Aging Gracefully
Late last year, the show kicked off a story arc about ageism when Eric’s son Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) throw a retirement party for his father — even though Eric had no plans to step down from Forrester Creations, the company he helped to found with his late wife, Stephanie (Susan Flannery), and built into a global empire. And when Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) bankrolled a new fashion enterprise for his wife, Katie Logan (Heather Tom), to challenge FC’s supremacy, Eric signed on to become its lead designer. “It’s good conflict and a good story, and it puts the Forresters in a very difficult place,” McCook praised, saying that he was “very much into” the idea when it was pitched by Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley Bell.
And though he’s elated that Eric is in the thick of the drama brewing between the Spencers and the Forresters, he acknowledged, “I’m like every old actor on a soap, where I’m not getting as many scripts as I used to.” McCook mused, “I know I’m the older guy, but I don’t like seeing so many episodes go by without Eric in the office or without Eric involved in the story.”
The actor also observed that Eric is “not as aggressively written for as some of the older characters on the other shows, the guys that are gangsters or big, rough businessmen,” such as Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) on The Young and the Restless. He pointed out that Eric is, by nature, a kinder, gentler kind of character, saying, “I love that Eric’s this way, and that he’s thought of this way, but since he’s older now, I have less to do, and I have to suck that up as part of growing older on a soap.”
As much as McCook would love to have more scripts rolling in, he declared that he was “proud and happy” to still be in the mix at B&B. “I’m going to be 82 years old, and I’m still an actor, and I’m still working,” he said, winking of Eric, “I just need him to stay healthy and happy.”
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