Hans Gudegast

Hans-J&ouml;rg Gudegast, actor first credited as Hans Gudegast, now professionally known as Eric Braeden, winner of a Daytime Emmy in 1998, a People's Choice Award in 1992 and a few Soap Opera Digest Awards. He has a star on the Walk of Fame.

Born in Germany, he moved to Texas and later to Montana, where he attended the University of Montana on a track and field scholarship. His first credited TV r&ocirc;le was as a radio operator on The Gallant Men (he also appeared on another episode of that show but was not credited). And he appeared in six episodes of Combat! as various Nazis.

The Rat Patrol was his big break, starring as Captain Dietrich, a principled villain. From there, his career took off. In 1980, he was offered a r&ocirc;le on Colossus: The Forbin Project, but the studio executives urged him to change his name. After much agonizing, he settled on a name honoring the German village Braeden.

Also in 1980, he joined the cast of The Young and the Restless as Victor Newman, a principled villain. As of 2021, he still appears with some frequency on that show, though the focus has of course shifted to the younger and more restless characters, such as Victor's children, Victoria and Nicholas Newman.