Credit: Sean Smith/JPI
William ‘Snapper’ Foster was a mainstay on Young & Restless in its earlier days. Today, he was mentioned as the person who is looking after Jill in London after she announced to Billy that she was fighting heart disease. Continue reading to find out (or refresh your memory) about all things ‘Snapper’.
William Foster is the oldest of Jill’s two brothers, with the middle sibling being a lawyer named Greg. Their mother was the late Liz Foster, who was cared for by her doctor son right up to the end of her life. Their father’s name was also William, and he left Liz and the kids to fend for themselves, which prompted his eldest son to drop his name and take on the moniker ‘Snapper’. The nickname evolved from his particularly ‘snappish’ personality.
He may have had his snarly moments, but boy oh boy was he handsome. First played by William Gray Espy and later by David Hasselhoff, Snapper took advantage of his good looks by becoming a bit of a player. He cheated on his girlfriend, Chris Brooks, with a waitress named Sally McGuire, who became pregnant with his child.
Sally married another man, Pierre Charles Roulland, after Snapper became engaged to and wed Chris. Unfortunately, Pierre was killed before Sally gave birth. She named Snapper’s biological son after her late husband and called him Chuckie. When Chris found out that her husband had fathered the child, she miscarried the baby she was carrying.
After all of this, Snapper fell for Dr. Casey Reed, who Young & Restless audiences will know as Nikki Newman’s sister. This affair didn’t last and Snapper went back to his wife as Sally left town with his son.
In another dramatic turn of events, Liz reconciled with Jill and Snapper’s father, Bill, only for him to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. Bill begged Liz to turn off his life support, and she did so, not wanting him to suffer, but the stress of it caused her to take a stroke. Snapper, who was acting as his father’s doctor, was accused of murdering the man, but was acquited of the charges thanks to his brother Greg.
In another twist, Liz began seeing Chris’ father, Stuart Brooks, and the two became grandparents when Snapper’s wife gave birth to Jennifer. It was around this same time that Sally and Chuckie showed up again in Genoa City. Snapper was tempted to tell his son that he was his biological father, as he was ill, but decided against it. Sally and Chuckie hit the road again, returning to Michigan with Sally’s boyfriend Stan, who had been summoned by Chris.
Snapper and Chris relocated to London in 1982 and it wasn’t until 2003 that Liz turned up in Genoa City again with Snapper and Greg in tow to tell Jill she needed brain surgery. Facing death, Liz wanted to come clean with Jill and told her she was adopted.
Jill and her family believed for years that Katherine Chancellor was her biological mother, but a DNA test eventually ruled it out.
In 2010, Liz returned to Genoa City again with Snapper at her side. Once again fearing death after her son diagnosed her with a rare auto-immune disease, Jill’s adoptive mother confided one final secret about her daughter’s parentage to Snapper. Jill’s brother was the one who broke the news to her that she was the offspring of Neil Fenmore, and that her biological mother had abandoned her at the hospital as a newborn and committed suicide. As Snapper returned to London, a DNA test proved that Jill was indeed a Fenmore and half-sister to Lauren.
Will we see Snapper in Genoa City again? Only time will tell. If he’s supporting Jill as she battles heart disease, perhaps he’ll accompany her back to see Billy and check in on her beloved Chancellor-Winters at some point.
Do you remember watching Snapper on back in the day?
