An original character since the show's inception, the role was played by William Gray Espy from March 26, 1973 to September 26, 1975, and David Hasselhoff from December 8, 1975 to April 30, 1982.
[1] With The Young and the Restless originally conceived as focusing on two core families, the wealthy Brookses and the poor Fosters, Snapper was designed as the oldest son of the latter.
As a student going through medical school, the character was given the nickname "Snapper" because of his personality of quickly snapping on people with whom he disagreed.
Bell wanted to hire relatively unknown actors for his original cast,[2] William Gray Espy was eventually selected to portray Snapper.
He spent six years playing the character before leaving The Young and the Restless in 1982 to star in the TV show Knight Rider.
Hasselhoff's decision to quit the soap opera was one of the major factors that led to Bell phasing out the Foster family (sans the youngest sibling Jill) and turning the focus to relatively newer characters like Victor Newman.
[2] Espy reprised Snapper for a few episodes in 2003, revolving around a storyline where his sister Jill discovers that she was actually adopted by the Fosters as a child.
Being asked to come back to appear in several episodes gives me a chance to say thanks, as I have an amazing amount of respect and heartfelt emotion for Bill, his family and my time on 'Young and the Restless.
Handsome Snapper was not only putting himself through medical school, but being "man of the family" after his father, William "Bill" Foster, deserted them seven years earlier.
Chris moved out and went to work as a secretary for Snapper's brother Greg, unaware that Stuart had financially helped his new law practice in return for her employment.
Snapper showed a great deal of patience and respect for Chris, offering her emotional support but finding his own sexual pleasure with lover Sally.
In spite of her friend Brad Eliot's advice that she'd only end up getting hurt, Sally decided to use a desperate single woman's oldest trick.
After an uneasy sexual start, Chris and Snapper worked through her problems and were happy together, living in a small apartment.
When Chris became pregnant, however, Snapper's pleasure was tinged by fears that having another responsibility might hinder his medical career aspirations.
The following year, Snapper had long made amends with his father, but Bill's cancer had progressed leading to him being on life-support.
In the late 1970s, Snapper and Chris had become foster parents for a little girl named Karen Becker as her mother Nancy was institutionalized and her father Ron was a rapist.
Snapper briefly returned to town in 2003 when Liz broke the news to Jill that the Fosters were not her biological family.