The Young and the Restless' Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) is one of the greats of soap operas, having earned a whopping 23 Daytime Emmy nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actor category, three of which turned into Emmy wins (in 1991, 1992, and 2002).
The actor is once again set to try his luck at this Friday's Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony, and in a recently updated 2019 CBS Watch magazine article, he shares that he's incredibly thankful for the opportunity, no matter if he wins or not.
"I'm the most grateful actor you will ever meet," he enthuses. "The Emmys have been very kind to me in the past, and I'm very excited about going this year. It never gets old -- 23? That's a crazy number! I look at it as my peers in the industry saying, 'Yes, he's one of the good ones.' That feels really nice."
Bergman shares that the Emmy Awards are very special to him and have been from the beginning.
"One of my favorite memories is the first year I won [an Emmy] for The Young and the Restless. That was a crazy and exciting time. It was the number one-rated show in America that week, and the following day, I was getting on the bus in New York City when a police officer stopped me to congratulate me. It was just a unique experience," he recalls, adding, "The second [win] came the following year. That was a giant surprise and a wonderful time. I've been very fortunate. Every day I have been here, I have given them my all. I go for broke every single time."
One of the actors who taught Bergman to give it his all was late All My Children actor James Mitchell (Palmer Cortlandt), with whom Bergman worked when he played AMC's Cliff Warner in the 1970s and 1980s.
"I had extraordinary role models. James Mitchell. What a terrific man. He had considerable success as a dancer, as a Broadway actor, as a film actor. He knew jobs don't grow on trees. He knew that you don't come to work unprepared," Berman shares. "David Canary [Adam Chandler, AMC]... It was just stunning the work he did. When I got to play Jack Abbott, who was a bit of a cad, a bit of a jerk, I had David Canary in my back pocket. Those were my real examples that shaped my career."
Speaking of those beloved AMC stars, Bergman shares that even after he joined Y&R in 1989, he continued to celebrate the Emmy Awards with his Pine Valley cohorts.
"For the first 12 years at Y&R, every night of the Emmys, David of All My Children and his wife, Bob [Robert] Woods of One Life to Live [Bo Buchanan], Susan Lucci [Erica Kane, AMC] and her husband, and Mariellen and I would go to dinner before the Emmys. It was a tradition," he shares. "Kelly Ripa [Hayley Vaughan, AMC] and her husband, Mark [Consuelos, Mateo Santos, AMC], were there one year, and one time Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet, joined us. We had these wonderful dinners before going to the Emmy Awards, and those are treasured memories."
Of course, the actor is human, and he admits that winning a fourth Emmy during the ceremony on June 24 would also be a treasured memory.
"I would love to have another one," he enthuses. "I'm always very flattered to be welcomed to the party. I have three and I've been nominated a bit. Each was significant in its own way. They share a shelf on a bookcase at home. I don't sit and hold one or something like that. They're pretty mementos from fun chapters in my life."
How do you feel about Peter Bergman being nominated for an Emmy for the 23rd time? Do you think he'll take home his fourth win this Friday? What do you think about the Daytime Emmy memories he shared? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
