Eric Braeden (born Hans-Jörg Gudegast; April 3, 1941) is a German-American film and television actor, known for his roles as Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, as Hans Dietrich in the 1960s TV series The Rat Patrol, Dr. Charles Forbin in Colossus: The Forbin Project, as Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and as John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 film Titanic.

He won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for the role of Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless.

His main character for the next two years was his regular starring role playing German Hauptmann (Captain) Hans Dietrich on the TV series The Rat Patrol (1966–1968), He starred in the 1969 Western 100 Rifles with Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, and Jim Brown (noted for the first big-screen interracial love scene between Welch and Brown), once again playing a villainous German military officer opposite Fernando Lamas.

[4] His other movie appearances in the 1970s included the role of Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), and that of the arrogant but formidable race-car driver, Bruno von Stickle, in Walt Disney's 1977 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.

In addition to many episodic roles, Braeden also appeared as Colonel John Jacob Astor IV in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic.

CBS later announced, though, that Braeden had inked a new three-year deal and would remain with the show, agreeing to a reduction in salary, which was the original issue.

[9] In 1958, Braeden, under his birth name Hans-Jörg Gudegast, won the Germany National Team Championship in track and field (discus, shot put, and javelin) with the Rendsburger TSV.