Eric Braeden’s celebrating his 45th anniversary playing Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless.
On February 8, 1980, Y&R viewers were introduced to Victor, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In this day and age, spending 45 years on the same show is basically unheard of, which makes Eric’s milestone all the more special.
The actor continues to make Victor a force to be reckoned with, even while dealing with personal issues like cancer and losing his home in the LA fires last month.
Ahead of his big anniversary, Eric spoke with TV Insider to reflect on his time on the show.
Eric also addressed those pesky retirement rumors that have had Y&R fans buzzing lately.
Is Eric Braeden retiring from The Young and the Restless?
At age 83, Eric has no plans to slow down or stop playing Victor.
“No,” Eric replied when asked if there was truth to the retirement rumors.
The actor continues to stand his ground that he will basically have to be forced out of The Young and the Restless.
One reason Eric isn’t going anywhere is because he knows he’s one lucky man to be still doing what he loves.
“The actors I used to work with in the ’60s on nighttime television and film are either not working or they’re gone, passed away. I’m a stubborn son of a b***h. I’m still here,” he shared with TV Insider.
Eric confirmed that there were times during negotiations when he was ready to walk away, but in the end, things worked out.
Here’s why Eric loves playing Victor on Y&R
The soap vet told TV Insider what keeps him wanting to play Victor and working on the hit daytime drama.
“It’s the realization when I drive to work that I have a job. We entertain millions of people all over the world and that gives you a certain feeling of responsibility to do it as well as you can, and it gives you some joy as well. We have some damn good actors on the show,” Eric expressed.
Aside from his love of acting and simply having a job, Eric also thoroughly enjoys everyone he gets to work with on the Y&R set. Eric gave a big shout-out to many of his costars.
“It’s love working with Joshua Morrow [Nick Newman], Mark Grossman [Adam Newman], Amelia Heinle [Victoria Newman], Melissa Ordway [Abby Newman], who, unfortunately, I’ve not seen much lately, Melody [Thomas Scott, Nikki Newman], obviously, Peter Bergman [Jack Abbott], Christian LeBlanc [Michael Baldwin], and Christel Khalil [Lily Winters]. They’re all wonderful,” he stated to the outlet.
There’s no question that Victor Newman is an icon on The Young and the Restless, and his portrayer, Eric Braeden, is a legend.
Spoilers for Y&R reveal Victor is put to his old tricks again, and we can’t wait to see who he makes angry next.
Congrats to Eric on 45 years as Victor! Thanks for entertaining us fans all these years.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.