Powerful ‘The Young And The Restless’ Throwback Shows Victor Confronting His Mother Cora
The Young and the Restless shared a throwback video featuring a confrontation between Victor and his mother, Cora Miller. The clip is part of Victor actor Eric Braeden’s 40th-anniversary celebration with the soap opera.
In the vintage video, Victor (Eric Braeden) confronts his mother, Cora Miller (Dorothy McGuire). She explains that she left him at an orphanage on Christmas Eve when he was seven years old. A tearful Victor listens to his mother’s explanation. Cora remembers that she had promised to mend her son’s coat because he’d torn it on the door. Incredulous, Victor notes that his mother recalled the coat, and she further explained that it was too tight in the sleeves.
A heartbroken Cora told Victor why she failed to fulfill her promise to repair her son’s too-small jacket — she would’ve had to say goodbye. Cora looked at Victor and said she couldn’t say goodbye. Then she noted the Victor hadn’t even needed her because he was so strong and never cried. Then, seemingly fortified, Cora said she didn’t dare look back when she left her son, and Victor’s mother reiterated that in all the ensuing years, she’d never looked back.
That declaration left Victor in tears. He couldn’t believe what Cora told him. He started softly and told Cora that she was his mother, whom he’d waited for all these years. His voice continued to rise, and he yelled, “and you never looked back” in an incredibly moving moment during the clip. Both mother and son were in tears, and Victor turned and walked out of the room, never looking back while Cora asked God to help her.
Braeden referred to this backstory that Y&R creator Bill Bell gave Victor was a pivotal moment in the character’s development and one that led to the actor enjoying bring The Mustache to life in Genoa City all these years. The fact that Victor had grown up in an orphanage turned the evildoer into a full-fledged character as opposed to the one-note bad guy he’d started out as before viewers learned his history. Victor began his life as Christian Miller, and when he left the orphanage, he changed his name to Victor Christian Newman, celebrating the victorious new man he’d become.
The number CBS Daytime drama will mark Braeden’s four decades on the soap with a three-day celebration of Newman Enterprises, Victor, and the actor on February 18, 19, and 20. He first appeared on the show on February 8, 1980.
