‘Young and the Restless’ star Eric Braeden to visit Batesville as part of MLK youth summit

Emmy Award-winning actor Eric Braeden, who has portrayed the villainous Victor Newman on “The Young and The Restless” since 1980, will be in Batesville on Thursday, Jan. 13, to headline the 2022 Nonviolence Youth Summit as part of Martin Luther King, Jr. Week.

The event will be held at Batesville High School, 1 Pioneer Drive, and begins at 9 a.m. Admission is free, and it is open to the public.

Local and state dignitaries will also be on hand for the summit along with DuShun Scarbrough, the executive director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission. The event will also include commemorative presentations from Batesville youth, the commission said in a release announcing the summit.

In addition to his long-running portrayal of Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera, the German-born Braeden has appeared in other television programs such as “Combat!”, “Mission: Impossible,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Kojak,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “How I Met Your Mother.” His film work has included prominent roles in “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” “Titanic,” and “Den of Thieves.”

In a video message (below), Braeden said he was looking forward to his visit to Batesville to talk about King, a man he said he had admired since the actor came to this country in 1959. The Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission said Braden will discuss his personal story of rising above adversity.

The 2022 Nonviolence Youth Summit at Batesville High School is sponsored by the City of Batesville, Citizens Bank, First Community Bank, and Lyon College. 

For more information on the Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, visit arkingdream.org.