Eric Forrester is a fictional character from the American CBS Daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, played by John McCook. He made his debut screen appearance on March 23, 1987, the show's first episode. The character appeared briefly on The Young and the Restless in 1993, 1995, 1996, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2017, and 2021. McCook had also played Lance Prentiss from 1976 to 1980. Many of Eric's storylines revolve around his relationships with Stephanie Forrester, Brooke Logan, Sheila Carter, Donna Logan, Beth Henderson, Jackie Marone, Quinn Fuller, Taylor Hayes, and various other women. Backstory Eric and his wife, Stephanie, are co-founders of the Los Angeles-based fashion house, Forrester Creations, with Eric as its lead designer. They have five children: Ridge, Thorne, Kristen, Felicia and Angela. Two different retcons have taken away two of his children. The Angela that Eric meets in 1988 proves to be an imposter who replaced the real Angela when she died in an accident years before. In 2001 it is revealed that the biological father of his firstborn, Ridge, is billionaire shipping magnate, Massimo Marone. Forrester Creations was first started with a $50,000 loan from Stephanie's father, John Douglas, despite his disapproval of her marriage to Eric. With Stephanie working on the business side and Eric on the creative, Forrester Creations becomes a great success, both in prestige and profits. For a time, those profits are eaten away by a far less prestigious rival, Spectra Fashions, which makes knock-off fashions all too similar to Forrester designs. Storylines When viewers first meet Eric's wife, Stephanie, (in the second episode) their marriage is already in trouble. Eric declares the marriage "stale," while Stephanie blames their woes on his assistant, Margo Lynley, with whom she suspects he is having an affair. Later, Stephanie inadvertently brings an actual "other woman" into his life when she makes the wrong choice of caterers for her party. One of the employees is his old college flame, Beth Henderson, now Beth Logan. After they meet, Eric wants to resume their love affair from thirty years before. Another employee is Beth's daughter, Brooke, who later proves an even more serious rival for Eric's affections. Eric eventually leaves his wife for Beth, but what brings him back to the Forrester home (if not Stephanie's bed) is the revelation that he has a 24-year-old daughter he never knew: the microcephalic Angela. Stephanie had pretended she