Iconic face of “The Young and the Restless” for more than 40 years, Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) agreed to speak with AlloCiné about his incredible journey in the cult soap opera. With us, the star shares his memories with humor…
A true icon of the small screen thanks to his emblematic role as Victor Newman in The Young and the Restless (the series is broadcast from Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. on TF1), Eric Braeden grants AlloCiné an interview in which he remembers with sincerity and humor his journey in the cult soap opera…
AlloCiné: The soap opera “The Young and the Restless” celebrated its fifty years in 2023. What does this mean to you as a star of the series since 1980?
Eric Braeden: To be honest with you, I’m just grateful that I’ve been able to be on the show all this time. And we are still number one! I am also very grateful to be able to go and do my job every day. Many of the actors I knew when I was doing television in the 1960s and 1970s are no longer working or are dead today!
You recently fought and beat cancer. Has this illness affected your work in the soap opera?
Fortunately, this did not impact my work. Maybe a few days but generally speaking, not at all.
So you’ve been playing Victor for over four decades. How would you describe him: as a loving patriarch who would do anything for his family or as a manipulative and vindictive man towards his wife and children?
All that ! I like playing him when he’s nice and mean. It really depends on who he’s facing.
How do you prefer to play Victor with Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), his true love: as a solid, married couple or as mortal, divorced enemies?
(laughs) No, no, no. I prefer them in love, of course! I find their relationship realistic and I like to play what is realistic.
What storylines have been your favorite to interpret over all these years?
I have to tell you something: I don’t think much about The Young and the Restless once I’m done for the day… So, I don’t remember everything I played but I have some does a lot ! Alas, once the scene is over, I don’t think about it anymore. It’s crazy…
That said, one of my favorite moments was when Victor was with his mother Cora [Dorothy McGuire, ndlr]. When she came into his life and he thought she was a liar, then when he found out she was really his father…
William J. Bell [le créateur des Feux de l’amour décédé en 2005, ndlr] had written a scene where she talked about a hole in Victor’s sweater. The latter then remembered the day she left him as a child at the orphanage… This was a crucial element of his story, I don’t know why.
Finally, my other favorite scene was between Victor and his father Albert, played by George Kennedy, years later. That’s all.
Victor is undoubtedly the only character in the world to have undergone vasectomies but remains capable of having children despite everything… Don’t you think that “The Young and the Restless” sometimes goes too far?
(laughs) Victor had a vasectomy, so what?
He had three…
Well, why not?! (laughs) There were leaks, that’s all…
Do you know how many times Victor was married?
I do not remember. (laughs)
And how many times has he been presumed dead?
Neither. But this has happened a few times! (laughs)
Have you ever suggested to the screenwriters to write a plot that would have appealed to you as an actor?
I did it once and it was totally distorted… I never did it again. Writing is hard work, I think it’s the hardest job in our industry. That said, I often think that Ashley’s story [Eileen Davidson, ndlr] and Victor could have been more important…
Besides Nikki and Ashley, what other woman could have been “the one” for Victor?
There was Sabrina who was played by Raya Meddine between 2008 and 2009. She was a wonderful actress, very intelligent and charming.
Who do you think is Victor’s worst enemy: Jack (Peter Bergman), Adam (Mark Grossman) or maybe himself?
Jack, obviously!
In the past, you almost left the series permanently. For what ?
It’s always just been a matter of contract negotiations. Nothing more.
Did you suspect at the time that joining The Young and the Restless would change your life?
I had no idea. Nothing indicated it. At first, I didn’t like the series at all! It took me a year and a half or two, when certain plots were launched… Like when William J. Bell brilliantly had the idea of telling that Victor had grown up in an orphanage.
My interest arose because I was able to find emotional potential here. He was an interesting character. So when I played those first scenes, with Victor’s mother and then later when he was telling Nikki about his past, I knew I was going to stay. Before that, I didn’t like the soap opera.
Do you have a regret about your journey?
It’s an interesting question but I’m not someone who has regrets. The past is the past and I’m moving forward. I am an optimist. The only thing I might regret is the fact that William J. Bell died too soon…