THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS Classic Photo Of The Day (1974 Cast)

In honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS (YR40), We Love Soaps will be posting a "Classic Photo of the Day" for the rest of the month. Today's photo is of the cast in 1974. The only cast member remaining from this picture is Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor). Brenda Dickson played Jill Foster at the time. That character is the only one left on the show today, now played by Jess Walton. Julianna McCarthy returned in 2010 when the show had the character of Liz Foster die.

50 Greatest Soap Couples: #47 Snapper & Chris From THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

COUPLE: Snapper Foster & Chris Brooks
SHOW: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
RANK: 47
PLAYED BY:
Snapper: William Gray Espy, David Hasselhoff
Chris: Trish Stewart, Lynne Topping
YEARS: 1973-1982

STORY:
When Y&R premiered in 1973, Chris, one of the four Brooks sisters, was a college student who worked for her father's newspaper.  Snapper was working and putting himself through med school when they started dating.   Snapper, the eldest of the three foster children, worked hard to support himself and his family.  Chris's father, Stuart, didn't approve of the way Snapper was too busy for his daughter continually disappointing her.  A long-string of complications ensued including Snapper sleeping with Sally McGuire (Lee Crawford), which resulted in a child, Chuckie.  Nine years later, Snapper took a job in London and Chris soon followed. She returned in 1984 for Victor and Nikki's wedding.  Snapper returned two times in the past decade, first played by Espy (2003) then Hasselhoff (2010).

FLASHBACK: AW Plans To Be Heartthrob Haven 1979

ANOTHER WORLD Has Plans To Be Heartthrob Haven

By Jon Reed
Ocala Star-Banner
September 5, 1979

Okay, soap fans, hold onto your heartstrings and get ready to turn your afternoon TV dials. ANOTHER WORLD has announced the biggest news to come down the soap opera tube in a coon's age. Executive producer Paul Rauch has signed William Gray Espy to appear in the serial.

And if you don't know or remember who William Gray Espy is, you out to turn in your "I Love Soaps" buttons. The Alabama-born, 6-foot-1, blue-eyed young actor was merely the "hottest property" to ever appear on a daytime drama. He originated the role of Snapper Foster on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS when the show debuted in 1973. Within a year, Espy had garnered such a fanatical following for his moody, sex-imbued portrayal of Snapper that he headed every fan magazine popularity list and had thousands of screaming Mimis pounding down the Y&R stage door daily.

There were, of course, several soap "idols" before Espy came on the scene. But none had ever attained the swift, intest adulation that Bill acquired. And no soap idol since has been able to match Bill's charismatic combination of vulnerability and volatility.

Bill exited Y&R three years ago, complaining of acting cramps and a loss of privacy and identity. And in those three years, every soap producer, including Rauch, has besieged the bachelor actor with astronomical offers. He refused every nibble.

He traveled around the world, including a reported stay at a Tibetan monastery. Other than a touring play production with other serial actors, he hasn't found acting offers in other mediums pouring in. For a year, he virtually vanished, anonymously into the "street" life of New York, Atlanta, and Nashville.

Then, several weeks ago, Rauch found the actor in Nashville where he was staying with friends. "After all these years," remembers Rauch, "Espy finally agreed to join our show."

There's no questioning Espy's reasons for his sudden change of mind regarding his return to the soap opera field, except that his rebellious young man act has undoubtedly mellowed. And the rent money must be paid.