Behind-the-Scenes Photos From Young & Restless’ 45th Anniversary Party for Eric Braeden

Back in 1980, it took some encouragement from a friend, soap vet Dabney Coleman (best known as the boss from hell in 9 to 5), but Eric Braeden signed on to play The Young and the Restless‘ Victor Newman. Little did he suspect that almost five decades later, he’d still be calling Genoa City home — and loving it! Keep scrolling to see photos from the daytime drama’s on-set blowout for the Emmy winner.

For most of Braeden’s run as Victor, by his side has been Melody Thomas Scott, who plays Victor’s on-again/off-again wife, stripper-turned-CEO Nikki Reed. The actress has suggested that the couple’s popularity stems from the fact that “we are all suckers for our desire to experience the greatest, most powerful romance of all time.”

Braeden has often expressed his utmost respect for the show’s writers — among them, of course, current headwriter/executive producer Josh Griffith. But if there was one story that Braeden didn’t care for, it was this one.

We’ll bet you a standing reservation at Society that whatever Joshua Morrow was saying about his on-screen dad, it was funny. The guy has a sense of humor that we only wish that Nick was allowed to share!

Hmm. In all these years, Victor and Lauren have never hooked up. Maybe it’s past time for Braeden and Tracey E. Bregman to get a scandalous storyline together. Or maybe not. Viewers don’t just hate it, they haaate it when we suggest trouble in paradise for Lauren and Michael!

Not only does Beth Maitland go back decades with Braeden, but Traci’s ill-fated daughter Colleen’s heart beats in Victor’s chest. (Remember when the ruthless tycoon made a weapon of Patty Williams and aimed her at archenemy Jack?)

Victor and nemesis Jack may never, ever see eye to eye. But their portrayers have the utmost respect for one another. On top of that, “I love that I am part of one of the oldest enmities in the history of television,” Peter Bergman told Soaps.com in 2022, “if not the oldest.”

Bergman has theorized that the loathing Jack and Victor feel for one another boils down to this: “Oil and water exist in the world. There are people who are that different from one another.” And Genoa City’s foremost movers and shakers just happen to be two of them.

These days, when Victor gets bored sticking it to Jack, he simply moves on to undermining the Abbott heir’s son, Michael Mealor’s Kyle. As a matter of fact, that’s among Victor’s plans for the week to come. (Read the spoilers here.)

Yeah, we’re gonna go out on a limb and say that Braeden was as amused by the speeches given in his honor as he was moved. Wonder what people would say about us. “Boy, they sure could type.”

On screen, there’s no love lost between Victor and former wife Diane. But off screen, as you can see, Braeden gets along swimmingly with Susan Walters, who made her daytime debut (as Lorna Forbes on Loving) only three years after he signed on with Young & Restless.

Ignore the stricken expression on Christian Jules LeBlanc’s face. Michael’s portrayer is one of the wittiest people you’ll ever meet, so we can only imagine the nosebleed-high entertainment factor of his tribute to pal Braeden.

Victor’s strained relationship with son Adam has yielded years’ worth of rich material for Braeden and Mark Grossman. But “we see Adam so tormented a lot of the time, disgruntled and twisted about things, so I think it would be nice to see another side of him,” Grossman told Soaps.com. “I mean, we don’t get to see him laugh all that often, do we?”

And he, in turn, has gotta hand it back. Discussing his castmates recently, Braeden told TV Insider, “We have some damn good actors on the show.” Among them, in his estimation, fellow Emmy winner Christel Khalil (Lily). Frankly, we couldn’t agree more.

Can you imagine a pair looking closer than father and son than Braeden and Morrow? If you can, you can please and thank you keep it to yourself, ’cause we can’t. “To learn from Eric how to be a dominating, strong leading Newman man was just so fortuitous,” Morrow said in 2024.

Billy Boy may hate Victor with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, but Jason Thompson has nothing but admiration for his co-star. “I’m on Eric Braeden time,” he joked on Instagram.

Sean Carrigan and Ray Wise, who played two of the soap’s most unpredictable psychos Stitch and Ian Ward (always with his last name!), palled around with Thompson. Honestly, we would’ve done the same. Why hasn’t Stitch been redeemed and returned to Genoa City already?!?

Lauralee Bell (Christine) has known Braeden since she was a kid. So we’d have paid any money to have the volume turned up on this photo to hear what her first impressions of Braeden were as a youngster!

Can you even imagine how cool it must be to walk onto a set and discover a whole scene arranged for the sole purpose of celebrating you and how awesome you are and your work is? We can’t. Nevertheless, we’ll pause here for a moment to give it a shot.

Oh, Scott has been through shocks galore over the course of Nikki’s tumultuous relationship with Victor. One constant, however, has been her chemistry with Braeden. When “Action!” is called, “our souls dance together,” she has said. “And it’s something that we can’t control, we can’t turn it off, and you can’t see it, but you can feel it… We are just so grateful to have that very elusive thing.”

You can rest assured that Young & Restless won’t have to do without Victor anytime soon: Braeden has zero intentions of retiring. Loving his work, “I’m a stubborn son of a bitch,” he tells TV Insider. “I’m still here.” And long may he remain so!