Career

Since 1987, he has played the role of Eric Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful. From 1976 to February 1980, he portrayed the character of Lance Prentiss on The Young and the Restless. In addition, he has appeared as a guest in episodes on dozens of primetime series.

B&B co-star Winsor Harmon once starred with McCook on an episode of Acapulco H.E.A.T. filmed in Mexico.

Harmon told Soap Opera Digest about their guest stint on H.E.A.T.:

"I hung out with John McCook the whole time and I kept watching all these people from other countries asking for his autograph. I"m thinking to myself, "Who the hell is this guy?" So one night, we were drinking Coronas and I asked him why he had so many fans and he explained how B&B was so popular around the world.

I had no idea. The more he talked about it, the more I was thinking, "I want to be on that show.".

The first time I drove into the parking lot, there was John, just pointing at me and laughing. He asked what I was doing here and I told him that I was Thorne.

That"s when he told me that he was going to be playing my dad. That was just too wild."

Currently McCook and Katherine Kelly Language are the show"s two longest-serving actors, and both debuted in the first episode.

McCook was dressed as F. Scott Fitzgerald in a costume-party scene in an episode of Magnum Principal Investigator. In 2001 & 2012, McCook received a Daytime Emmy nomination in the Lead Actor category for the role of Eric Forrester.