Eric Braeden Talks Retirement & How ‘Y&R’ Fixed ‘One of the Dumbest Decisions Ever’
Exclusive
The Young and the Restless unveiled a big surprise to make its 13,000th episode even more special by reconstructing one of its most iconic locales: the Newman ranch.
The set, which burned down as part of a 2012 story, was not a popular choice at the time or in the years since. “It was an outrage and one of the dumbest decisions ever,” declares Eric Braeden, who plays Victor Newman, the ranch’s owner.
Nevertheless, the actor was surprised by his own sentimental reaction to seeing it brought back to life. “To be frank with you, when they asked me to take a look at it, I thought, ‘Oh, well,’ ” Braeden shrugs. “And then I sat there and I was a little overwhelmed. I really was touched because the old set meant so much to the Nikki/Victor relationship. And they did a wonderful job. I was just flooded with emotions because it’s stepping back into a milieu that we’ve almost forgotten about. It touched me. It really did.”
Braeden joined Y&R in 1980, intending to stay for a short spell; 44 years later, he is the face most associated with it. “I signed for three months and that’s all I wanted to do,” he explains. But a conversation with the show’s co-creator and former head writer, William J. Bell, changed the course of Braeden’s life and career.
Sonja Flemming/CBS
“I was asked if I would extend,” he recalls. “And I thought about that for a while and said, ‘OK, make it a year.’ After about a year, I really didn’t want to continue and I went to Bill and I said, ‘Bill, unless you ascribe a background to this character that justifies who he is or explains who he is, I don’t want to play bad guys anymore. I’ve done it for too many years on nighttime and I’m burned out. It’s dehumanizing. I can’t do it anymore.’ And two months later, he came up with the brilliant storyline. Once I had done that, where Victor explained to Nikki that he had grown up in an orphanage, I went to my dressing room, called home, and said, ‘I’m staying.’ Because I realized that from then on, the character would assume enormous complexity and that’s what attracted me to it. And that’s why I’m still here because you don’t get that kind of character, certainly not on nighttime. It was a brilliant stroke and that’s really the only reason that I’m here. I would have left, period.”
Now, the Newman family is one of the driving forces on the 51-year-old soap. “It means everything to me; I’d be a phony if I said that it doesn’t mean anything,” Braeden shares. “To get affirmation of what one has done is a wonderful feeling.”
Braeden’s favorite episodes are ones that have touched upon Victor’s roots. “Very simply, the time that Victor’s mother showed up [in 1984],” he relays. “Dorothy McGuire played my mother [Cora Miller]. It is one of the most memorable scenes for me, and it explains so much of Victor’s character, and the deep hurt and the deep pain in him and anger in him at a mother who had abandoned him when he was seven years old. That all came out in that scene, in one take, and that’s arguably my most favorite scene. Another scene was with George Kennedy, who played my father [Albert Miller], when I finally confronted him [in 2003] for the first time in my adult life. That was fraught with enormously deep emotions. Those are two of my most memorable scenes. There were others, obviously, with Mel [Thomas Scott, Nikki Newman] and Peter Bergman [Jack Abbott], but the scenes that really encapsulate who Victor Newman is are those two scenes with the mother and the father.”
Regarding Scott, the actor appreciates the endurance of Nikki and Victor’s romance, which Braeden feels has a lot to do with their real-life dynamic. “Mel and I get along,” he explains. “We get along very well and Mel knows how to deal with me. There is chemistry between people, and if there isn’t, you can’t manufacture it, you can’t write it. It’s there or it isn’t and we’re lucky that it is. It’s really as simple as it is and as complicated as it is. You can’t foresee that, you really can’t. It’s a confluence of what the writers did and what the two personalities bring to the scenes and to each other.”
Braeden also enjoys that the show has mined so much drama out of Victor’s complicated rivalry with Jack. “Peter [Bergman] and I work well together as adversaries, and that’s another thing that either works or doesn’t work, and it works,” he points out. Jack is currently in Victor’s crosshairs once again. “Victor gets even with people, and he has not forgiven that night of debauchery between Jack and Nikki [in May],” sniffs Braeden. “He thinks hanky panky went on and Victor doesn’t forgive or forget that.”
With Victor still front and center in the story, the 83-year-old Braeden has no plans to retire anytime soon. “I will not, I don’t want to,” he insists. Especially with his health in a good place. “I feel very well. I really do,” he reports. “The [bladder] cancer is under control and I will have another cystoscopy in about a month, and if that is negative, then I’ll be free for a while. It’s never gone completely. You have to always watch, but signs are very good. The new knee is fully repaired. I do squats again and power cleans again and all that.”
Monty Brinton/CBS
As the show is set to mark 13,000 episodes on November 13, Braeden says he has a lot to be thankful for. “I am deeply grateful,” he reflects. “We have complaints about this or that; that’s inevitable in the creative process. But very often on the way to work, I look around as I drive through town. I remember the place where I first walked in L A, and I cross it every day, but I had barely a penny in my pocket. At this point, I’m very, very fortunate, and rarely has a writer created something that fits me so well. I disagree with a lot of what Victor Newman does, but the emotional components are there and I agree with them completely. It’s easy for me to play. I love it. I have wonderful coworkers in Melody, Peter Bergman, Joshua Morrow [Nick Newman], Amelia Heinle [Victoria Newman], Melissa Ordway [Abby Newman], Mark Grossman [Adam Newman], Jason Thompson [Billy Abbott] and Michelle Stafford [Phyllis Summers]. All wonderful actors. I feel really good about it. We’re still number one.”
The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
This whole Sharon situation is waayyyyyy too much !
37 5
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G
I'm honestly just sick of Sharon.
I KINDA OF WISH THEY WOULD LET PHYLLIS KILL SHARON OFF IN SELF- DEFENSE!!!!!
I'M REALLY TIRED OF HER PLAYING THE BI-POLAR CARD EVERY TIME SHE DOES SOMETHING STUPID!!!!!
SHE'S SUCH A WEAK CHARACTER
LET.
HER.
GOOOOO!!!!!
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O
Time for Sharon to go to JAIL!
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K
I really think all the old actors should keep acting on y&r because their character is so understanding Victor Nikki Jack Phyllis Jill all of them are wonderful actors and more I really like the way they read the Old ranch it's beautiful I wish I can visit the set of y&r I've been a true fan since 1974 the characters are older and wiser now especially my favorite The Black stallion which is Victor Newman. Congratulations y&r on your 50th show I hope there's more to come.
35 3
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R
I agree
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O
Does anyone remember in the early days of the show that victor Newman was downright evil. He had done things like beat his wife with a whip and held her captive at the ranch. He was the ultimate bad guy. The shows dynamic in those days was very well done and Eric Braeden aka Hans Gudekust (his real name) was the evil German captain in the short lived but great WW2 drama The Rat Patrol. He was also the bad guy in escape from the planet of the apes. He played dr. Hasline the villianess man who killed the two main ape characters. So I can see where Mr. Braedon is so happy with the evolution of his character. Yes I remember the early days of Y&R. And as the show has evolved it has toned down and eventually changed his hard evil character to what it is now. Congrats to the production crew on their milestone 13,000th episode. Just a little reminder about two actors who played brothers on the series as well. David Hasselhoff and Wings Houser, who btw is the father of Cole Houser - Rip Wheeler on Yellowstone. Hope I didn’t spoil things for fans of Mr Braeden’s character.
29 1
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O
He did not beat Julia but he locked her lover in a cage in his basement.
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G
The ranch should have been rebuilt years ago. I've missed it all these years and I thought it would never be rebuilt. The new house where they moved after the fire felt like a rented house. It didn't feel like the Newman home even after all those years. I'm glad the ranch set is back and I'll love it forever.
29 2
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R
I agree, I was going to write the same pretty much word for word.
3
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G
I fell exactly the same way!
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C
The Sharon situation is getting old!! And in the world we live in there is surveillance everywhere, except for Y&R!! I don't know how the writers came up with this stupid story line.
26 2
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R
I was saying the same thing
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R
When is this Sharon thing going to be OVER
17 1
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E
Yes. The Sharon story line is getting on my nerves. It's over the top. WHAT IS HER CHARACTER'S PROBLEM. Geeeez. Now, Phyllis might become Sharon's latest victim. If she isn't busy burning a house down....she targets people. Creepy like. Sharon needs a psych ward......PERMANETLY.
13 1
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O
After watching the show that was written where they had rebuilt the Newman Ranch was so emotional so very well written seem like Bell Senior had wrote that show I love Eric Braden and Melody, Thomas Nikki and Victor. They have always had the best love story on Young and the restless they play their parts so very well as if in life they were real man and wife. I agree with Eric when he says you have to have the perfect partner and he has that in Nikki as he does in Jack and they play very well off of each other. The emotion they both bring to the table. Thanks again for such a wonderful show Young and the restless would not be anything without Victor Nikki and Jack.
14 2
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B
Eric is such a wonderful and brilliant actor. Don't necessary agree on some of the way he handles things but we love the character. Wish Eric good health and happiness.
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O
I remember when he played Captain Dietrich in The Rat Patrol so he's old than dirt, ( which means I'm older than dirt), but as long as he feels like working then let him work.
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O
I hate this Sharon story.i wish she was cauggt,booked and committed already.its gone on way to long and I hate it
7 1
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G
I kept thinking it was gonna be a dream or fantasy & not real!
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C
Old school Victor!
I miss that villain 🦹
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G
He was downright scary mean at first. He still had too much Rat Patrol still in his blood at first.
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P
I understand why you don't want to retire at the same time he is Young and the restless since some of the other cast members have passed with my Chancellor etc. we really need him on the show and nobody could take his place, he is a mustache and always will be..
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B
I think the Sharon story line is so dum. Sharon is very annoying and a terrible actress. Get her off the show she is single handly ruining it . I have watched Y and R for 40 years and am thinking about not watching it anymore because of Sharon and her dumb story line !!!!!
2 1
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O
Agree. What happened to security cameras and security? There is a flaw
Sharon can break in homes and there is no cameras?
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O
I think before this story line she was a wonderful actress. Not so great in this role
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C
Out with Sharon Case & ENTER Kelly Monoco from GH fame okay.
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D
NIKI IS GOING TO DO A I LOVE LUCY EVENT. HOPE SHE RETURNS. THATS WHY SHE IS DOING THIS TYPE OF ACTING.
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D
I BEEN WATCHING THE Y AND R SINCE I WAS 2 YRS. IN MY CRIB. 56 YRS. LATER.
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J
Long time Y&R fan...tired of
Victor Trump always thinking he's
always right!!
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C
Yeah, EXACTLY WHEN okay.
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C
& it's also a SNOOZEFEST too as well okay Girl Boss.
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C
& STRAIGHTJACKETED too as well as THROW AWAY THE KEY okay.
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O
Storylines are ridiculous. Never understood how characters on this show get away with murder and mayhem! So far from reality the show should be renamed the “fantasy and unbelievable of the y&r”!
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G
Wings Houser played one of 2 brothers to Jill Foster. Greg and Snapper. Victor's brother was in a few scenes but it was way past Wings Hayser. He did a few episodes, but I cant remember his name. Seemed like it was around the time his episode with his mom or dad.
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