Macho, Macho Man: Eric Braeden

A bit of trivia from Eric Braeden’s autobiograhy, I’ll Be Damned (2017):

1. Firstly, his years of active engagement in sports and physical activity has served him well: At 76 years old, Braeden has a body that most men would envy. For Pajiba-lingo connoisseurs, as an admirer of a particular type of older man, yes, Braeden’s body activates my lions.
2. He has no formal acting training and “fell into” acting by chance. For years early in his career, he was typecast in roles as a villainous German which he grew weary of,  mainly because he thought German was being made synonymous with Nazi, which he asserts is incorrect and egregious.
3. To play the lead role in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), he was encouraged to adopt a stage name. He, at first was vehemently opposed and felt insulted, but at the urging of his wife Dale, he relented. He chose Eric because it was a common European name he could live with and Braeden in honor of his hometown, Bredenbek. He added the a in Braeden to ensure correct pronunciation.
4. He is an accomplished athlete and takes pride in his sports accomplishments: He won the German Youth Team Championship in discus, javelin, and shot put in 1958 and the U.S. National Soccer Championship with the Los Angeles Maccabees in 1973.
5. According to his autobiography, he was in the running for the role of James Bond after Sean Connery vacated the role but due to not being British, he was dropped for consideration.
6. Despite his character Victor Newman and Nikki Reed (played by Melody Thomas Scott) being a “supercouple,” and thirty-seven years of working on the show, Braeden does not consider himself  “close” to the majority of his co-stars as he does not socialize with them outside of work.
7. On July, 20, 1007, he became the the second German-American actor, after Marlene Dietrich, to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 20, 2007. He states, it is “arguably one of the proudest moments in my career.”

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