Victor Newman - Legacy and Reception

Legacy and Reception

Chris Jancelewicz of The Huffington Post described Victor Newman as "the very definition of daytime TV icon" and noted that "Even people who have never seen an episode in their lives know his name, his face, and his powerful low voice." In the early 1990s, was was described as a heartthrobe. He is credited as being one of the soap world's leading stars. Jamey Giddens of Zap2It considers Braeden the show's leading male. Tommy Lightfood Garret of Highlight Hollywood stated that Braeden is: "is known in the industry as the biggest daytime leading man of all time." Braeden's biography at Yahoo! notes that upon his casting as the ruthless businessman Victor, he "clicked with both the audience and the creative powers, and has been one of the series leading men for close to two decades." Kim Muraro of LimeLife instead of his originally planned 3-month stay at the soap, he "has become one of the most iconic characters in daytime TV". Garret, writing from Canyon News, wrote: " plays the mastermind mogul with real gusto. His innate acting skills are as legendary as his distinguished career. This week, we saw Braeden play ruthless, conniving and ultimately a loving father." Good News Weekly wrote: "There are some men that are larger than life. There are some men that transcend the TV screen. There are some men that touch the lives of millions of viewers. Victor Newman is one of those men."

"Newman has become a daytime television icon during his unparalleled tenure as soap opera’s biggest star Victor Newman quickly developed into a main character and firmly planted himself into the hearts of millions of fans across the globe."

—Good News Weekly on Victor Newman

The character of Victor has been used as a spokesperson for the Canadian discount store, Zellers, Inc. and appeared in an advert for it. The commercials aired in November 1998. In the adverts, Victor breaks the proverbial fourth wall, and begins speaking to the Zellers shopper on the other side of the TV screen, praising her admirable combination of style and thrift. He steps closer and squashes his nose against the camera lens. According to the website Strategy, the promotional ad campaign for Zellers featuring Victor proved to be the most popular installment to date as of May 1999; the staff of Strategy wrote that the campaign "has garnered considerable praise in the marketing community – and small wonder. Not only does it perform the considerable task of balancing an affordability message with strong branding, it does so in a category seldom noted for the quality of strategic thinking that goes into its advertising."

On Victor's rivalry with Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), Allison Waldman of AOL TV said: "After all, their characters' on screen feud has been the stuff of soap legend. Victor and Jack have shared wives, corporations, but mostly, unabashed hatred. They despise each other." Additionally, Waldman wrote: "Braeden's contribution to the show these past three decades really cannot be understated. He's been a driving force as Victor primarily because he's a villain who's not quite pure evil. He has a heart and on occasion shows a vulnerability that makes him likable and even sympathetic" but "like a big jungle cat, he is not one to be tamed. That's why at any point, Victor can turn on someone he once professed to love See, that's Victor. He makes viewers crazy with his actions, but he's so dynamic and interesting, that you can't stop watching him. Thank you, Eric Braeden. You are Victor and you have made him completely compelling for 30 years." In another article, Waldman called Braeden one of the biggest stars in the soap opera business. Victor has adopted several nicknames on the show that have carried into the media. This includes "The Mustache" and "The Dark Night". When asked which storyline he felt affinity for or strongly about in his thirty years during an interview with AOL TV, Braeden stated it was the scenes in which he met his dying mother, Cora Miller (Dorothy McGuire) for the first time since he was seven years old. The actor credited it as the turning point of his career on the show, describing it as "a deeply-felt scene" and something he would never forget. He said:

Victor met his mother for the first time, because she had left him at the doors of an orphanage when he was 7 years old. The very first time I told that story to Nikki was at Christmastime, and she never knew about my background. I revealed to her my story, and something in that storyline just got to me The scene was just full of anger and sadness, all at once. It touched me because, when you grow up during the war as I did, you never forget such massive destruction around you. Such tragedy. All of this horror is indelibly imprinted on your brain. What insanity that war was, and all because of a man with a huge superiority complex.

When asked during the same interview why he believed Victor had so much commercial appeal, Braeden responded: "I really don't know. I've always been a very emotional actor, in other words, the only criterion I go by when I film scenes is to make them as believable and real as possible. Maybe it's that. Maybe – and I'm not sure if there's any truth to this – but people can perhaps sense that I've seen a lot in my life. I've been through a lot, and maybe for that reason I can feel empathy." Tommy Garret of Highlight Hollywood also compared his performance to his portrayal of John Jacob Astor IV in the film Titanic (1997), stating that the performances are "equally enthralling". A writer from The Age newspaper describes Victor's voice as "gravel". Shelley Fralic of Winnipeg Free Press named Braeden along with Susan Lucci who portrayed Erica Kane on All My Children to be the genre's biggest icons. Fralic stated that he is the "eye of the Genoa City hurricane" and that "the thought of Y&R without Victor Newman – his character is recovering from a heart transplant and was going to "disappear" to Belgium for rehabilitation – is hard to imagine, rather like Dallas without J.R. Ewing, or The Sopranos without Tony."