Eric Braeden Says Playing Sports Helped Him as an Actor
Over the years, actors often develop all kinds of tips and tricks to help them get into character. And The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden is no different. The actor credits his past playing sports for helping him with his eventual career as an actor. Here’s what Braeden had to say about the connection between his early life in sports and his iconic acting career.
Eric Braeden is best known for ‘The Young and the Restless’
Daytime soap opera fans likely know Braeden best for his role as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless. The actor first debuted as the character in 1980 and continues to play him even more than four decades later. In fact, his longevity as Victor Newman puts Braeden in an elite group of actors still starring as the same character on U.S. soap operas.
Only a few other current stars – including Braeden’s co-star Melody Thomas Scott – have enjoyed longer runs in their respective roles. No wonder then that fans have such respect for Braeden, who finally won a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance on The Young and the Restless in 1998.
Eric Braeden took his experience playing sports into his acting
Long before he stepped foot on a stage or a set, Braeden was heavily involved in playing sports. And he told fellow soap opera icon Maurice Benard (General Hospital) on his YouTube show State Of Mind with Maurice Benard how he realized decades into his acting career how sports helped him manage his anxiety, thanks to a performance in which Braeden took on 12 monologues by William Shakespeare.
“For the first time in my life, never felt anything like it, I felt like my vision became a tunnel. … So then on the drive to the theater, I thought, ‘Well, f**k it. Here I am. I may fall on my a**,'” Braeden told Benard. “And that back and forth. … I hear the people entering the theater. As you know, us actors are so acutely aware. That comes from sports. I had to perform. Whether I like it or not, I had to do it. So I said, ‘Let’s go.'”
Eric Braeden has worked extensively in TV and movies
Even though he’s best known for his work as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, Braeden actually started his career in Hollywood decades before he joined the show. The actor made his film debut in 1961’s Operation Eichmann and appeared in the 1960s TV series Combat! Braeden also worked with Marlon Brando and Yul Brenner in the 1965 war film Morituri, also known as The Saboteur: Code Name Morituri.
Beyond daytime TV, the German-born actor also played Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, Dr. Charles Forbin in the 1970 sci-fi thriller movie Colossus: The Forbin Project, and John Jacob Astor IV in James Cameron’s Titanic. Cameron’s movie – in which Braeden plays the richest man aboard the title ship – remains one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
