Eric Braeden Biography

Eric Braeden (born Hans Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor, best known for his role as Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, and as John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 film Titanic. Braeden won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Victor Newman.

Early life

Braeden was born Hans Jörg Gudegast in Bredenbek, Germany (near Kiel), where his father was once mayor. He immigrated to the USA in 1959. In the United States, Braeden attended The University of Montana in Missoula.

Career

Braeden accumulated many TV and film credits during his first two decades in America. In 1966 he guest-starred (credited as Hans Gudegast) as Luftwaffe Major Bentz in episode 28, "Day of Reckoning", of season two of the TV series Twelve O'Clock High, very loosely based on the classic 1949 war film with the same name. He is most notably known for his 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. Lew Wasserman of Universal Pictures told him that no one would be allowed to star in an American film if they had a German name. After much thought he took the name Braeden from his hometown of Bredenbek.

In the 1970s he took a supporting role in the 1971 film Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Throughout the 1970s, he 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. In 1977 he appeared in Walt Disney's Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo as the arrogant but formidable race car driver, Bruno von Stickle. 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 daytime soap opera 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 late December 1991, Braeden and actor Peter Bergman had a physical altercation backstage. According to press reports, after exchanging bitter words on the set, Braeden showed up at Bergman's dressing room door to further discuss the matter and violence ensued. Y&R's creator and senior executive producer William J. Bell threatened to fire them both if it ever happened again. Since then, the actors have resolved their differences and now have a cordial relationship.

In 1997, he played Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the blockbuster film Titanic, cast because he strongly resembled the powerful millionaire.. Braeden told Cindy Elavsky that the scene in which his character drowned "was one of the scariest moments in this business for me."

In 2008, Braeden starred in "The Man Who Came Back", an independent Western film, which was written and directed by Louisiana's Glen Pitre.

Also in 2008, Braeden guest-starred in an episode of How I Met Your Mother as Robin Sr., Robin's father, trying to make his daughter act like the son he never had.

Braeden announced on October 18, 2009, in an article by Dan J. Kroll that after almost 30 years on The Young and the Restless, he was leaving the show. "We reached an impasse in the negotiations", Braeden said in an exclusive interview with celebrity news website EW.com. Braeden's last airdate was scheduled to be November 2; however, on October 23, 2009, CBS announced that Braeden had inked a new three-year deal and would remain with the soap, even agreeing to take a pay cut, which was the original issue.

On December 17, 2010, Neil Patrick Harris announced via Twitter that Braeden would not be reprising his role on How I Met Your Mother. In his tweet, Harris called Braeden a "D-Bag" for deciding on very short notice not to film a scheduled cameo for the program. Harris claimed that Braeden said the role was not substantial enough for Braeden to appear. The part was recast with Ray Wise.

Personal life

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, which starred Vin Diesel and was nominated for a Teen Choice Award in 2003.

Actor Clarence Williams III and former boxer Ken Norton are two of his best friends.

Awards, honors and nominations

Braeden won Distinguished German-American of the Year, in 1990.

On July 20, 2007, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Braeden received the Gilmore Award from the Pacific Pioneers, a radio and television industry group, in 2007.

He received the 2009 Friend of German Award from the American Association of Teachers of German.

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1987	14th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
1990	17th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
1992	18th People's Choice Awards	Favorite Male Performer In A Daytime Serial	The Young and the Restless
1996	23rd Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
1997	24th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
1998	25th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
1999	26th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
2000	27th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless
2004	31st Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Young and the Restless

Roles

Year	Title	Role
1963	Combat!	Hans Gruber
1965?	Combat!	Ecktmann
1965	Morituri	Actor not credited
1966"1968	The Rat Patrol	Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Dietrich
1969	Hawaii Five-O	Dr. Paul Farrar
	100 Rifles	Lt. Franz Von Klemme
1970	Hawaii Five-O	Klaus Marburg
	Colossus: The Forbin Project	Dr. Charles A. Forbin
	The Mask of Sheba	Dr. Morgan
1970	The Young Rebels	Major Zanker
1971	Escape from the Planet of the Apes	Dr. Otto Hasslein
1971	Gunsmoke's episode Jaekel	Carl Jaekel
1971	Bearcats!	Col. Reinert
1972	The Judge and Jake Wyler	Anton Granicek
1972	Hawaii Five-O	Djebara
1973	The Adulteress	Hank Baron
	The Six Million Dollar Man	Findletter
1974	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Bernhardt Stieglitz
	Banacek	Paul Bolitho
	The Ultimate Thrill	Roland
1975	Wonder Woman	Evan Donaldson
1977	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Karl Heller
	Kojak	Kenneth Krug
	Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo	Bruno von Stickle
1979	CHiPs	Senator Lerwin
1980"present	The Young and the Restless	Victor Newman
1981	Charlie's Angels	John Reardon
1990	Lucky/Chances	Dimitri Stanislopolous
1990	The Ambulance	The Doctor
1994	The Nanny	Frank Bradley, Sr.
1995	Diagnosis: Murder	Himself
1997	Titanic	John Jacob Astor IV
1998	Meet the Deedles	Elton Deedle
1999	The Bold and the Beautiful	Victor Newman
2008	The Man Who Came Back	Reese Paxton
2008	How I Met Your Mother	Robin Scherbatsky, Sr.

See also

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