Photo: Frantogian / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Eric Braeden has a kind of longevity I find genuinely remarkable. Born in Germany in 1941 as Hans-Jörg Gudegast, he reinvented himself in America and then spent decades as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless. That's not just a role, it's a daily presence in millions of living rooms across generations. I admire the discipline that takes. The fact that he holds both a German order of merit and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star tells me he never fully left either world behind. There's something dignified about an actor who builds an empire on consistency rather than reinvention.
Overview
Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor, known for his roles as Victor Newman (from 1980) on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, Dr. Charles Forbin in 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project, as Dr.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Eric Braeden
- Name (Japanese)
- エリック・ブレーデン
- Reading
- えりっく・ぶれーでん
- Born
- April 3, 1941 (age 85)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Snake
- Origin
- Bredenbek, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / film actor / film producer / television actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Montana
Awards & achievements
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from Germany →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.