John McCook, a Daytime Emmy-winner for his role as Eric Forrester on Bold and the Beautiful, deserves a bookend statute next year for his work in his character’s current storyline. Eric’s faced his mortality with dignity and grace while keeping his family, together and viewers captivated in the process. For his incredible performances, he’s being awarded Soap Hub’s December powerhouse performer for B&B.
John McCook: Powerhouse Performance
Some soap fans have grown up watching McCook play Eric, a caring boss, kind patriarch, and, despite being a father to grown children, a man, who has a zest for life and romance. In McCook’s capable hands, viewers have watched the actor bring to life Eric’s fears and sense of courage as he faces the end of his life.
We may not know specifically what Eric’s mystery soap opera illness is but McCook has made us feel that Eric is truly fighting for his life. The coughing fits, the pale skin tone and red eyes (courtesy of B&B’s makeup department), and, at times, desolate look on his face have all made us believe that Eric was going to die.
Keeping in the tradition of late B&B characters Caroline Spencer (Joanna Johnson) and Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery), Eric threw a black tie gala for his nearest and dearest. If Eric felt his loved ones knew he was dying, McCook chose to suppress that as Eric wouldn’t want his family to be in any pain.
“This whole party is a little more emotional than I thought it would be. It’s almost as if everybody here [knows],” Eric said to Katie (Heather Tom) and Donna (Jennifer Gareis) about believing that only the three of them, as well as RJ (Joshua Hoffman) and Luna (Lisa Yamada), were aware of his illness.
Katie gently asked Eric how long he’d continue his charade, hiding the fact that not only did everyone know but even if they didn’t they’d certainly suspect given Eric’s posture. Clearly, he was fighting with all his strength to make it through the party.
“As long as I can,” Eric said. The patriarch mingled throughout his living room, and engaged in conversations with loved ones he hoped they’d remember the rest of their lives. He let Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) know all was forgiven (related to his fling with his ex-wife Quinn) and let him know he was family, and gave his blessing to polarizing duo Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) and Hope (Annika Noelle).
Eric let Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) know that she was the “jewel” of the family; then, he and ex-wife Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) shared a tender moment. Veteran B&B fans recall this couple’s unlikely romance over 30 years ago and then, their surprise second marriage almost 20 years ago.
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“You and Ridge are going to lead this company — and this family — into the future,” Eric told Brooke. We could see Eric’s pain but also the joy and love he felt for partygoers. Despite becoming more ill with each passing scene, Eric also seemed at peace with the inevitable fate that everyone ultimately faces.
After Eric playfully taunted Ridge for beating him in the fashion competition, the looks on Ridge and Carter’s faces clued Eric into the fact that they’d lied. Eric rhetorically asked Ridge why his son would betray him over something that was so important to him? “You lied to me,” Eric said as everyone wondered what he was going to do next.
“That’s about the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me,” Eric said, shaking his son’s hand as he let out a slight chuckle. Then, Eric collapsed to the floor. “It’s okay. It’s my time. I’m at peace with this. Be kind to each other,” he shared as possibly his final words.
Thanks to Finn (Tanner Novlan) and Bridget’s radical procedure — against Ridge’s initial wishes (he wanted his dad to die with dignity) — Eric lived! It was a true holiday miracle for the Forrester family. The gift for viewers was watching John McCook turn in performances of a lifetime!
Honorable Mention: B&B upped the dramatic stakes in Eric’s story by bringing back fan favorites Winsor Harmon and Ashley Jones as, respectively, Eric’s children, Thorne and Bridget. Harmon and Jones walked back into their roles as if no time had passed and played heartfelt emotions over the possibility that Eric might die. Both actors delivered the dramatic goods.
The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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