Eric Forrester is a fictional character from the American CBS Daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, played by John McCook.

Forrester Creations was first started with a $50,000 loan from Stephanie's father, John Douglas, despite his disapproval of her marriage to Eric.

Eric declares the marriage "stale" while Stephanie blames their woes on his assistant, Margo Lynley, with whom she suspects he is having an affair.

Stephanie inadvertently brings an actual "other woman" into his life when she hires a catering company which has employed the young, Beth Logan.

Eric eventually leaves his wife for Beth, but what brings him back to the Forrester home is the revelation that he has a 24-year-old daughter he never knew about: the microcephalic Angela.

Stephanie had pretended she had had a stillbirth to spare Eric the pain of knowing his daughter was so severely disabled.

Stephanie's machinations, which bring Beth's estranged husband back in town, keep him out of that bed.

This leads to a hospital visit and a doctor's discovery, divulged to Stephanie, that the blood types of Eric and Ridge make it impossible for them to be father and son.

Stephanie reveals to Massimo that he is Ridge's father, conceived during a trip to Lake Geneva in their college days.

Stephanie later discovers a trust which her father had set up for her 40 years before which Eric kept hidden, making her sole owner of the company.

Nick Marone, who now owns Forrester, makes divorcing Stephanie a condition of selling the company back to Eric.

As CEO, Donna gives promotions to Rick, Marcus Forrester (her newly rediscovered son, whom Eric adopts) and the mysterious Owen Knight; and she fires Ridge, Thorne and Felicia.

But it turns out that Stephanie's sister, Pamela, poisoned Eric by giving him a potassium chloride-laced lemon bar.

Eric, Stephanie, Ridge and Taylor Hayes (Steffy's mother) end up as equal co-owners of the company.

Eric objects when Donna hosts a talk show called The Catwalk, which is owned by Spencer Publications.

Especially objectionable is how close this brings her to the Spencer employee, Justin Barber, Donna's ex-boyfriend and the father of Marcus.

Their marriage is further strained after Stephanie has a fight with them, then leaves Donna's mother, Beth, who due to advance Alzheimer's and being alone, falls into and drowns in the Forrester swimming pool.

Ridge's son, Thomas (by Taylor), wants to make his mark on the fashion industry with a new line called Taboo, which he promotes via scandal: he surprises Brooke on the runway with a kiss.

His purpose is to exploit the public's fascination with his stepmother's pseudo-incestuous romances (with Ridge, Nick, Thorne and Eric), but Taylor worries that Thomas is genuinely attracted to Brooke.

Eric however, discounts the fact that Brooke was first Ridge's sweetheart, fiancée and almost the mother of his children after she had three miscarriages and fails to see that he should not have dated one of his son's ex-fiancées, let alone marry her.

Despite the desperate pleas of her family and friends, Stephanie refuses to accept treatment; she decided instead that she would like to enjoy her final days so Eric planned an Irish-themed party in her honor at the mansion.

The latter chooses as the winner of his son Rick, sparking anger and disappointment in Thomas, elements that led him to decide to move to Paris.

Eric finds himself surrounded by the love of three women, Pam, who shares his grief over the loss of her sister, Donna, who stands beside him and comforted him, and finally Taylor, who finds himself betrayed by Stephanie and once again frustrated by Brooke's children: on the one hand, there is Steffy that Liam impregnated, must wait for the choice of the latter and on the other, that Thomas wants to go to Paris.

In fact, Eric's offer convinces Thomas to stay in Los Angeles by appointing him vice-president of Forrester Creations.

Eric welcomes his niece Ivy (Ashleigh Brewer), daughter of his brother John (Fred Willard) to Los Angeles and she and Quinn corroborate on a jewelry line.

After Rick behaves horribly as CEO and Eric refuses to remove him, Ridge, Liam and Steffy use their stock to take over the company.

Ridge and Steffy disapprove of their relationship because of her recently kidnapping Liam, and her past history of hurting people.

Eric learns why Brooke called off her wedding with Ridge, and what she wanted to tell him in Australia, and that Katie knew.

For his portrayal of Eric, McCook was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2001, 2012 and 2018.

In 2022, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Eric 16th on his ranked list of The Bold and the Beautiful's Best of the Best Characters Ever, commenting "Since the CBS soap's debut, John McCook hasn't just established the Forrester family's patriarch as a (much-needed) voice of reason, he's cemented his rep as a lady killer who earned his nickname of "honey bear" the fun way!