I was a fan of The Young and the Restless from the time the show first aired. Could you please identify the actor who first played the role of Dr. Snapper Foster and the subsequent replacements? What is the original Snapper doing?
—Debbie M., Pennsylvania
William Grey Espy was the original Foster, from 1973 until 1975, and was followed by David Hasselhoff, who portrayed Foster from 1975 until 1982. (Hasselhoff is perhaps best known for his involvement with the TV show Baywatch.) After a 28-year absence, Espy, 56, returned briefly to the show last year because Foster’s mother required surgery, so he came back to help her through it. Espy continued acting after he left the show—playing Mitch Blake on Another World from 1979 to 1982 and 1986 to 1990—and now lives in Dothan, Ala. (pop. 57,738). “In the early ’90s, I returned to Alabama to take care of a mother who had Alzheimer’s, so I did that for some years,” Espy says. “Basically, I’ve been taking care of family matters for a few years and only recently have I tried to resume an acting career. I’m in the process of trying to re-establish an agent and other connections.” Espy, who is single, is doing a local production of A Few Good Men and may host a hunting and fishing show for an outdoors channel. He’s also writing a movie script. “I don’t want to live in Los Angeles, which eliminates a lot of work,” he says. In his spare time, Espy is devoted to preserving and reforesting land and developing a wildlife habitat for turkey, quail and deer.
