A German-American actor Eric Braeden is best known for his awarded role as Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, and also for roles as Hans Dietrich in The Rat Patrol and as John Jacob Astor IV in the Titanic. His wealth increased considerably during last years. As of 2023, Eric’s total net worth is breathtaking 25 million dollars.
Eric Braeden was born as Hans-Jörg Gudegast on April 3rd, 1941, in Bredenbek, Germany. He won the German National Team Championship in Track and Field (discus, shot-put and javelin) in 1958. A year later, he immigrated to the USA and attended the University of Montana, Missoula on a Track and Field Scholarship.
While attending college, he made a film titled The Riverbusters with his friend Bob McKinnon. After that, he appeared in small parts under his real name before he got the leading role on the World War II TV series The Rat Patrol in 1966. He also appeared in several episodes of WWII drama Combat!, always playing a German soldier. Same in the western 100 Rifles, where he played a villainous German military officer.
You could see him also in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, or in a number of TV shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Gunsmoke. Eric won a Daytime Emmy for his work on the soap opera The Young and the Restless in 1998. Eric married his college sweetheart, Dale Russell, in 1966. They have a son, Christian Gudegast, who is a screenwriter.
