E-mail a friendEric Braeden
original airdate May 2, 2005
Emmy-winning actor Eric Braeden, known for his role on CBS' daytime drama The Young and the Restless, also performs on stage and in films, including Titanic and, his latest, The Man Who Came Back. Born in Germany, he immigrated to the U.S. as a teen, became a naturalized citizen during college and holds dual citizenship. In '89, Braeden was the only actor on the then-newly-formed German American Advisory Board and has been honored by the German and Israeli governments for his efforts in advancing German-Jewish dialogue.
Eric Braeden
Tavis: Eric Braeden is the popular star of the long-running CBS series 'The Young and the Restless,' 'Y&R.' The show has been the number-one daytime drama for nearly a generation. In 1998, Eric Braeden won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor. Tomorrow the longtime activist and humanitarian heads off to Poland for an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. On Thursday, he will lead the March of the Living in Poland at the request of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Eric Braeden, nice to meet you.
Eric Braeden: Nice to meet you, Tavis.
Tavis: Glad to have you on this program, sir.
Braeden: Glad to be here.
Tavis: First of all, let me start with our condolences. I know that this is a difficult time for you. We learned here recently in L.A. that over the weekend William Bell--I assume your longtime friend--and the creator and producer of 'Y&R' and 'The Bold and the Beautiful' passed away over the weekend.
Braeden: A giant in this business...
Tavis: Yeah.
Braeden: ...who, in his lifetime, I think, wrote about 15,000 shows himself. And, uh, 'Y&R' and 'Bold and Beautiful' together played to between 350 to 400 million people a day, in over 150 countries of the world.
Tavis: My condolences to you and to his family. Tell me about what you're headed off to Poland for tomorrow. I mentioned it. Tell me more about it.
Braeden: They have the March of the Living, where 18,000 Christians and Jews, to commemorate 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, do a 3-kilometer walk into--into Auschwitz along the railroad tracks where people...were carried into Auschwitz.
Tavis: Now, you are German?
Braeden: Yes.
Tavis: Why are you involved in it?
Braeden: I have been involved in a German-Jewish dialogue for the last 30 years, I would say. I used to play soccer for a team called the Maccabees.
Tavis: Uh-huh. That's a great name, the Maccabees.
Braeden: That's right. We won the U.S. championship together in 1972-1973. We had about 7, 8 Israelis on the team from the Israeli first division national team, and I was the token German along with someone else. And wore the Star of David on Sundays and did 'The Rat Patrol' during the week, with a Nazi uniform. So, I've been involved, as most people of my generation, postwar generation, have been involved in this issue in one way or another. A lot of members of my generation worked for kibbutzims in Israel. There has been enormous assistance from Germany toward Israel for the last 40 years or 50 years now. So it is something you simply cannot shake off. The sins of the father are truly visited upon the sons.
Tavis: Do you feel, and do those of your generation, you think, feel a certain burden, a certain responsibility as a result of that?
Braeden: You feel a responsibility. You--you... You just... It is almost a kind of impotent anger that you feel. You feel an anger with your father's generation, who was part of that. You feel an anger at the continuous vilification of anything German that you witness over here in America, for example. I was part of it in Hollywood in the 60s, one television series after the other vilifying Germans. That is difficult to deal with when you know you come from a family and a background--from a village, in my case--with perfectly normal people. And when you juxtapose that normalcy with what you see in American television and films, it is--it creates a kind of dichotomy that is very difficult to deal with. So, hence, you begin to think about that and really think about it, and you try to understand the evolution of that monster from 1933 to 1945. And you come to the conclusion, at least I do, that there's one valid lesson to be learned from this. And I think it is almost the only lesson to be learned from it....that is valuable. Never allow anyone to abrogate democratic rights ever again. Be aware of what happens politically around you. Be very aware. Don't dismiss someone's utterings as unimportant or meaningless as they did with Hitler in the first year or so. They thought he would be finished a half a year's time or a year's time. He wasn't. It is... The one lesson to be learned is that you must participate politically in whatever country you live in.
Tavis: Let me ask you, to that point, which is a brilliant point, and I could not agree more. In the fine tradition of the black church we'd just say 'Amen' to that point. That said, though, I wonder whether or not, Eric, you think we have learned that lesson? When I look around I could give any number of examples. The Sudan comes to mind. Rwanda comes to mind. I could give any number of examples of places around the globe where persons who look like me and persons who look like you have been and, one could argue, right now are still being subjected to that genocidal reality. So I ask, have we learned that lesson?
Braeden: Certainly in Europe. And I must say in America--I came in '59 to this country at the age of 18. I was stunned by the racism in the country. And I've seen enormous progress, to be frank with you. Not enough yet, but I've seen enormous progress.
Tavis: Well, You're sitting here talking to me. That's progress.
Braeden: Well, of course. In other words, I'm very optimistic about that. I have seen a generation grow up in Germany now that is almost too democratic, as it were, with very liberal laws in regard to asylum-seeking people, etc., etc. So I think progress has definitely been made. What has not been done is that we pay attention to different areas of the world differently. In other words, as long as they do not constitute any geopolitical importance, we pay no attention to them.
But one thing we have not learned from that Nazi period. As long as we make films and television series vilifying and perpetuating the caricature of the Nazi, we learn nothing. The only time we learn from that period is to know that normal people bought into that. First slowly. Then more and more. And by the time some of them woke up, it was too late. That is a lesson you can only learn if you see films or television series dealing with normal people in Germany when that monster came to power. Why? What were they thinking? What were their problems? Were they suffering from enormous economic depression? From political depression? Were they suffering from the consequences of the Versailles Treaty, etc., etc. So to explain the Nazi period, it is uninteresting to show caricatures. So show the normal person that now is subject to the temptations of simplistic political solutions. There is in all of us a tendency, a fascistic tendency, to want simplistic solutions to complex problems.
Tavis: Mm-hmm. That's true. Let me throw-- I want to move on to your career here in just a second, if I might, but two issues I want to raise just to get your thoughts on it. I was wondering what was going on in your head when these two things made news, relative to two persons known around the world. Since you are German, what did you make, right quick, of the story that broke when Prince Harry--you know the story--went to this party over in Europe and had the German uniform in, the swastika on his arm? What did you make of that? Much ado about nothing, or were you bothered by that?
Braeden: I think it is, um... It's an untold story as far as I'm concerned, that the kind of latent anti-Semitism has existed, I'm sure, in Great Britain and in other countries of the world. It came as a shock to most people. You must remember one thing. Jews were far more successfully assimilated into German society prior to Hitler than anywhere in the world--than anywhere in the world--more than in England, more than in America, more than in France, more than anywhere. So, meaning--I know that in English society and in American society, there was anti-Semitism. Always was. So I'm not surprised. I wouldn't overrate this. Um...shocked by it, how someone in that position could be so tactless. Utterly shocked by it, to be quite frank with you, yes.
Tavis: The second one: The new Pope, Benedict XVI. Stories have come out about his past, and obviously to say he was a Nazi sympathizer is way too strong a language.
Braeden: No, that is absolutely wrong.
Tavis: Absolutely wrong, exactly. But how should we interpret the stories that we've been reading and hearing about his past in Germany?
Braeden: Well, again, we must-- In other words, it is incumbent upon all of us to always know the exact story, the exact history, if we want to learn anything from it. He apparently was a Hitler Youth, as most guys of that age were. He then was drafted into the German Army, and then he fled from that. He didn't want any part of it. He rebelled against it. His father was a policeman, one who was against the Nazis. He had to go from one village to another to flee the wrath of the Nazis. He was against it. Um, so, I think one or two of his brothers are priests as well-- obviously people who have dealt with concerns for humanity for quite some time. I think that has been overplayed. I think it is totally ludicrous.
However, his conservative theological positions are something that we can obviously talk about and be critical of, as far as I'm concerned. That's my personal opinion. How he--I've always felt that only people who are conservative can then institute more liberal policies. Ronald Reagan is the one who instituted the rapprochement with the Soviet Union. It is Richard Nixon who started the rapprochement with China. These were arch anti-Communists, and so I feel that if there's any kind of modernization in the Catholic Church, it probably will come from someone who one a priori assumes to be very conservative.
Tavis: Before I let you out of here so you can go catch your plane to get to Poland, let me ask you, um, 25-- First of all, congratulate you. 25 years now on 'Y&R' you've been. 25 years. This is your character. Are you-- You're prepared to do this for life?
Braeden: Tavis, it's very simple. I've been in this town now for 40-odd years, been an actor. When you land a role that is written for you and that you obviously, you know, it resonates with the public, you stick with that, to the nth degree.
Tavis: That's an understatement...'resonates with the public.' I mean, you are the quintessential star of daytime television.
Braeden: I appreciate you saying that. That's very nice.
Tavis: Does the show, before I let you go, does the show change at all now that Mr. Bell has passed away? What happens from this point forward?
Braeden: He had handed over the reins about three or four years ago to his sons. And they have obviously sort of continued in his vein. Nothing drastic, I don't think, will change. I am enormously grateful to the show, to Bill Bell, to have created this character--synergistically, obviously, with me. And it has allowed me to show signs, as an actor, that as a German actor, you normally would not be allowed to show. In other words, you know, the complexity of human emotions have run through the character of Victor Newman. And I've been able to manifest that and am extremely happy about that, to be honest with you. I have an enormous loyalty to that show.
Tavis: You're extremely happy, but not nearly as happy as the millions of us who know that Victor Newman is The Man on 'Y&R' every day now for 25 years, better known, of course, in real life as Eric Braeden. All the best to you on your trip. Thanks for coming by to see us.
Braeden: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: I'm glad you came by to see us.
Braeden: I appreciate it. Thank you.
Tavis: My delight. That's our show for tonight. A reminder: You can catch me back on Public Radio this weekend and every weekend now on PRI--Public Radio International. Check your local listings. I'll see you back here, though, next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. Thanks for watching. And as always, keep the faith.
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