Eric Braeden is best known for his work on soap operas like The Young and the Restless, but his life is filled with remarkable circumstances that predate his 40-year run as Victor Newman. Long before he had any prospects in the entertainment industry, Braeden was born into the chaos of World War II to German parents before being one of the fortunate survivors of the largest shipwreck ever recorded.
Braeden survived WWII and a horrific shipwreck before making it to America
Before Victor Newman, before Eric Braeden, there was Hans-Jörg Gudegast. That is Braeden’s given name when he was born in 1941 in the northern German city of Bredenbek, where his dad was once the mayor.
Gudegast and his family were on the run by the time he turned four as the Russian army’s advancement on East Prussia forced them to flee. They were able to avoid the gunfire from the war but nearly died during their escape.
In his 2017 autobiography I’ll Be Damned, Braeden revealed that he was evacuated from the MV Wilhelm Gustloff. The German ocean liner, which you can read more about in Britannica, was a part of Operation Hannibal, a mass evacuation of German troops and civilians in the area.
The Gustloff was hit by three Soviet torpedoes and sank over the course of an hour. An estimated 9,000 people died in the tragedy, making this the largest death toll from a single ship sinking in maritime history, Brittanica reports. Another 1,000 people, including Gudegast’s family, were able to get away before they drowned.
Braeden went on to become a legendary soap opera star
Thankfully, the rest of Gudegast’s childhood was less eventful, and he moved to the US when he turned 18. After initially settling in Missoula, Montana, to attend the University of Montana, he moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s. After earning guest roles in shows like Combat! and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Gudegast got his first big part in The Rat Patrol as Captain Hans Dietrich.
He continued to find work throughout the 1970s, one of the highlights being the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project, where he became the first German actor to play an American in a major Hollywood picture. (It was at this point that studio execs pressured him into choosing a more marketable stage name.) But Victor Newman is the character that will define Braeden’s career most of all.
Victor was meant to be a guest star for a few weeks, but Braeden’s performance was so good that he was offered a contract, and The Young and the Restless began to reorient itself around him. By bringing a deeper level of nuance to this villain, Braeden created a new soap opera archetype, and his popularity still hasn’t waned four decades after he debuted on the show.
Given the time demands of The Young and the Restless, it’s understandable that Braeden’s movie roles have taken a step back. But he did find time to be in one of the biggest films of all time, one that also involved a historic shipwreck. Braeden played John Jacob Aster IV in Titanic. According to Celebrity Extra, Braeden admitted that filming his drowning scene was “one of the scariest moments in this business for me.”
Braeden isn’t just a talented actor
Braeden has lived quite an interesting life. As well as being a talented performer, he was also an impressive athlete. According to Soap Hub, Braeden went to Montana on a track and field scholarship after winning the German National Team Championship in the same sport.
A lifelong fan of soccer, he also won the National Challenge Cup in 1973, playing for the Jewish American club Maccabi Los Angeles, scoring the winning goal in the semifinal and slotting home a penalty in the championship game.
Braden and his wife, Dale Russell Gudegast, got married in 1966 and welcomed a son, Christian Gudegast, in 1970. His son has followed in his Hollywood footsteps; Gudegast has worked as a screenwriter since the mid-’90s and directed his first movie Den of Thieves in 2018.
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