Peter Bergman Looks Back at 30 Years on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS (EXCLUSIVE)

As one of the titans of Genoa City, Bergman has played a slew of business stories. "My favorite one was trying to get Jabot back," he revealed. "It was one of the first storylines I was ever involved in. Victor had stolen my father's company and I came back to set things right. So I got Nikki to fall for me. Victor was perfectly horrible to her, but he had no time for me [wooing] her. The closer she got to me, the more he pushed her away. It was absolutely perfect. Just before Jack and Nikki were to get married, Jack's plan was to go to Victor and say, 'You want Nikki back, give me Jabot!' But before that happened, a terrible thing happened — Jack realized that he had fallen for ikki. So in the end, he lost Nikki and Jabot!"

Bergman has worked on pretty much every Y&R set, including Crimson Lights. But his favorite is the Abbott living room, he admitted. “It has never changed since the day that I got here. Maybe little tchotchkes on the coffee table, and some things on the mantel weren’t there. Otherwise, it hasn’t changed since I got here 30 years ago. That’s a giant comfort for me. When I know I’m working on the Abbott set, I know that I have that extra layer of comfort, that extra thing supporting me. In that house, Jack is as Jack as Jack can be. That home is the center of Jack.”

While Bergman inherited the nickname Smilin’ Jack when he took over his role, he actually is responsible for creating some of the most iconic nicknames on the show. “I started The Mustache, Moneybags, the Black Knight and calling Phyllis Red,” he grinned. “The first time I called Victor The Mustache — I think I actually called him Mr. Mustache — when I was talking to Nikki, they said, ‘Cut, cut! You can’t call him that!’ I said, ‘Why not?’ So, we did the scene again and cut that out. But the next time, at the very end of the day, I stuck in Mr. Mustache again. When the writers heard it, it was in every script that I had — The Mustache! So I managed to clear that one after a couple of years here. I squeezed it in, as well as Mr. Mumbles. I called him all kinds of things. And every time, the producers said, ‘Stop, stop! Wait, you can’t call him that!’”

Five years ago, Y&R threw a party for Bergman on the occasion of his 25th anniversary with the show. So the incredibly humble actor declined doing another splashy event for his 30th. “Then I learned of their plan to do a 30th-anniversary show — it literally says, ‘Peter’s 30th-anniversary show’ on the script! I was so incredibly flattered by that — so moved and touched by it,” he shared, getting emotional. “There are lots of people in this building that made that happen. It means the world to me that it means something to other people!”

Jack has had a lot of ups and downs in his career, but Bergman believes if he were pitted against his alter ego in the business world, Jack would win! “He went to Harvard Business school, so he is a real smart guy, and he did very well. I couldn’t teach him anything about business, but I could teach him a thing or two about human relations!”

Bergman is arguably one of the most skillful actors in daytime, having won three Emmys and a slew of nominations. However, even he has had storylines that have challenged him. “I am a devotee of [former executive producer/headwriter] Jack Smith. I love him and his family. But he wanted to tell a story of Jack running into a woman that he knew in Vietnam. That kind of came out of left field. I was delighted to play it. I dove into it, but Jack had to become schizophrenic, because you had Jack working at Jabot being his normal, irritating self — picking on Brad, being awful to Jill, manipulating his sister, Ashley, working his father. Then he would go home and be the sweetest man that the world had ever seen!” he laughed. “That was just so hard to play! And then it turned out that they had a child — Keemo. I’m an actor and I’m willing to go anywhere you want me to go in a role, but that was just so hard for me to embrace. I never fully embraced that storyline. [The late] Elizabeth Sung (Luan) was a lovely actress, but that was my least favorite storyline that I ever had.”

“When I’m working with the Abbott family, I’m happier than a man should be!” smiled Bergman. “I could tell you fantastic things about Eileen Davidson (Ashley), Beth Maitland (Traci), Jason Thompson (Billy), Michael Mealor (Kyle), Hunter King (Summer), Marla Adams (Dina) and Melissa Ordway (Abby). These are giant people in my life! I owe my job to Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki), and anytime I work with her… we’re kindred spirits. I really like her, and I have forced her to like me! I have learned a lot about life through Eric Braeden (Victor). He and I have created a rivalry with Jack and Victor that is now historic. I think it is now the oldest rivalry in the history of television! Eric and I work very well together, and I’m very grateful for that. And Jess Walton (Jill) is such a beautiful, wonderful woman, but working with her is like an old shoe. I’m just so comfortable with Jess. It’s almost like I don’t have to learn my lines — they just come. It’s a joy to be around her! And Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) is a force of nature! Tracey [E.] Bregman (Lauren) is such a lovely human being, and Doug Davidson (Paul) holds a giant place in my heart. There are just so many people — I now fear I’m not mentioning some names. But I have come to love the people on the show a great deal!”

Bergman was already at Y&R when this dressing room was being built right off the stage. “It was either 28 or 29 years ago,” he remembered. “When I saw it, I asked, ‘Is there any chance that I could be there?’ I had two little kids at home and a wife who might need to get a hold of me, so I wanted one place and one number that my wife could call me at. This was pre-cell-phone — keep that in mind. A lot of things were different 30 years ago! They were like, ‘Sure, nobody’s spoken up for it.’ There are far more prestigious dressing rooms, far bigger dressing rooms, far more accommodating and luxurious dressing rooms than mine. But mine has a certain rabbit-warren kind of feeling. It’s warm and friendly.”

As a recast, Bergman says that it was not as important to him to tailor his performance to his predecessor’s as it was to know his alter ego’s relationships. “What was his relationship with Ashley, Traci… his dad? I wanted to get a sense of that. And the last thing I wanted to know is what kind of energy does Jack provide on the show,” he recalled. “There are characters that are quiet, slow burners, and there are characters that are frenetic. So, when I first got to Y&R, I made a real point of entrances and exits. I wasn’t exactly Kramer on SEINFELD, but when Jack entered a room, I wanted viewers to know that Jack was there. That was very important to me at the beginning.

Bergman is now comfortable behind Jack’s desk, so it’s hard to believe that there was a time that he was not at all enthusiastic about leaving his beloved New York for life on the West Coast! “I was dragged kicking and screaming to the best thing that ever happened to me!” he laughed. “We held on to our New York apartment for seven years after I was here, ready to go back to it at a moment’s notice!” If he could jump in a time machine, what would he tell his younger self? “If I had to do it all over again, on my first day here, I would have bought a surfboard, and on my second day, I would have bought a set of golf clubs!” he smiled. “I would be having much more fun now! But I fought it with everything in me, which is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. I love my life in California. Yes, I still love to visit New York, but I love my life here!”

Bergman is well-known for not only being a consummate actor but for being knowledgeable about daytime dramas. It is an expertise he developed when he played good guy Cliff Warner on ALL MY CHILDREN. “I made it my business to watch other shows,” he said. “The only shows that I couldn’t watch were those opposite AMC on the schedule — this was before DVRs. And Y&R was literally opposite AMC, so I never saw the show! I knew a lot about daytime television, but this show, I did not know!”