Background and career
Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, (1980—present). He received ten Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, winning in 1998. He is also known for roles such as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, Dr. Charles Forbin in the 1970 film Colossus: The Forbin Project, Dr. Otto Hasslein in the 1971 film Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 film Titanic.
Braeden was born Hans-Jörg Gudegast on April 3, 1941 in Bredenbek, Germany (near Kiel), a small village in northern Germany where his father was once mayor. When Braeden first came to America, he arrived in New York City. Then he worked in the medical laboratory of his cousin, who was a doctor, in Galveston, Texas. He was granted a track and field scholarship at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana.
Braeden accumulated many TV and film credits during his first two decades in America, and guest-starred in 120 roles. His earliest credits were all under his birth name, Hans Gudegast. During the 1960s, he appeared in several episodes of TV's longest-running World War II drama (1962–1967) Combat!, always playing a German soldier. In 1965, he appeared in a film called Morituri starring Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner, and guest-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as T.H.R.U.S.H. agent Mr. Oakes in "The Discotheque Affair", season two, episode five.
In 1966, he guest-starred as Luftwaffe Major Bentz in episode 28, "Day of Reckoning", of season two of the TV series Twelve O'Clock High (a series which was very loosely based on the classic 1949 war film with the same name) and also appeared in an episode of the 1966 espionage drama series Blue Light. His main character for the next two years was his regular starring role playing German Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Dietrich on the TV series The Rat Patrol (1966–1968), He starred in the 1969 Western 100 Rifles with Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, and Jim Brown (noted for the first big-screen interracial love scene between Welch and Brown), once again playing a villainous German military officer opposite Fernando Lamas. This was his last credit under his birth name. His starring role in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), was when 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 with a German name. After much thought, he took the name Braeden from his hometown of Bredenbek. His other movie appearances in the 1970s included the role of Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), and that of the arrogant but formidable race-car driver, Bruno von Stickle, in Walt Disney's 1977 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. Throughout the 1970s, he also 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 addition to many episodic roles, Braeden also appeared as Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. Braeden told Cindy Elavsky that filming the scene in Titanic, in which his character drowned, "was one of the scariest moments in this business for me."
In 1980, he was offered the role of self-made business magnate Victor Newman on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Initially, the role was 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 extended. Braeden won a Daytime Emmy Award for his work in 1998. In October 2009, Braeden and The Young and the Restless came to an impasse regarding contract negotiations, and press reports indicated he might leave the show. CBS later announced, though, that Braeden had signed a new three-year deal and would remain with the show, agreeing to a reduction in salary, which was the original issue. In February 2020, Braeden celebrated his 40th anniversary with the show.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
