‘The Young and the Restless’ Star Eric Braeden Discussed How ‘Disrespected’ Daytime Soap Actors Are
Decorated soap actor Eric Braeden has been starring as Victor Newman on the CBS soap The Young and the Restless for more than four decades. While Braeden didn’t even know what a soap was before auditioning for the role of Victor Newman, he has since come to love and respect daytime television.
Despite his admiration for the industry, the actor is well-aware that soaps aren’t always looked at in the best light. However, Braeden makes a good case as to why daytime television is one of the hardest mediums to master and why soap actors deserve more credit for their work.
Read on to learn more about Braeden’s views on the industry and why he thinks soap actors are so disrespected.
From never watching soaps to starring in them
If you ask Eric Braeden if soap actors are treated as second-class actors within the industry, the soap veterans would give a resounding “yes.” During an interview with TV Insider, Braeden discussed how soap opera actors are often looked down upon in the industry, despite the skill and talent that he sees many of his fellow actors exhibit. While Braeden holds a deep admiration for everyone in the daytime television scene today, this wasn’t always the case.
Braeden was born in Germany in 1941 and immigrated to the United States in 1959. Just a couple of years later, Braeden began his acting career. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Braeden earned roles in a variety of films and television shows.
According to IMDb, Braeden portrayed roles in everything from Gunsmoke to Hawaii Five-O to The Virginian. It wasn’t until Braeden was out playing tennis with one of his acting buddies that he learned about soap operas. Braeden told TV Insider, “I only sent in to read at Y&R because my friend Dabney Coleman said to me, ‘Do it. You’ll love it.'” Braeden went on to say that at the time,
“I had no idea what a soap opera was because I didn’t watch them. Dabney had done a soap over at NBC. That’s how he knew. He knew what he was talking about. I had to learn respect for the medium of soaps.”
Are soap actors treated as “second-class” actors?
While Braeden was nearly 40-years-old before he learned what daytime television was all about, he has since come to hold deep respect for the medium. Before becoming a soap opera star himself, Braeden saw how disrespected daytime television actors were in Hollywood. As he told TV Insider, “I saw how disrespected actors in daytime were. I think I have had a little something to do with that culture changing. We should all be very proud of what we do.” The soap veteran went on to say.
“The feeling of second-class citizenship [daytime actors endure] compared to the rest of the industry … why? Daytime is very hard. It is the hardest medium … We have actors on our show whose work makes my mouth drop open.”
A culture shift in the soap opera space
With Braeden being a respected name in the industry, he certainly has helped initiate a shift in the work daytime television actors perform. When asked what convinced him to stay at Y&R all these years and if it had to do with the writing of Bill Bell, Braeden said, “Precisely.” The 81-year-old went on to say,
“I wondered, how do they write this stuff day in and day out. The longer I stayed on daytime, the more I began to have more respect for various aspects of what we do — the camera people, the lighting people; people are on their toes all day long. What I have fought for in the past is when they say, ‘Let’s move to the next scene.’ I say, ‘Let’s see if we can do it better.’ I resent the hell out of anyone who says, ‘We’re just doing a soap.'”
For Braeden, there’s no such thing as “just doing a soap.” This longtime soap actor has seen for years the craftsmanship that goes into producing daytime television and wants the medium and the actors he works with to be given the respect and recognition that they deserve.
