The late Young and the Restless actor Wings Hauser is fondly remembered for playing Greg Foster

Wings Hauser portrayed Greg Foster

Older Virginia soap fans will remember Wings Hauser portraying Greg Foster on The Young and the Restless from 1977-1981.

He was the third of four actors in the role and briefly returned in 2010. The actor died at his Santa Monica, California, home on March 15 after a long battle with COPD and oxygen used.

The 77-year-old was the father of Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser, who portrays Whip Wheeler. Born Gerald Dwight Hauser on December 12, 1947, he made his film debut in 1997 in First to Fight.

Greg married Nikki Reed and dated April Stevens

On The Young and the Restless, he was the first husband of Nikki Reed Newman (Melody Thomas Scott). Greg was the brother of Jill Foster (Abbott-Atkinson) and Snapper John Foster.

Long-time Virginia Y&R fans will recall that Greg also fell for April Stevens but became angry when he discovered her father was Paul Williams (Doug Davidson). Wings Hauser’s last credited role was Eve N’ God: This Female is Not Yet Rated TM in 2019.

Wings Hauser, a star of The Young and the Restless and the father of Yellowstone‘s Cole Hauser, has died at 77. Daughter Bright Hauser told The Hollywood Reporter that the death occurred at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 15, following his years-long struggle with COPD, which had required an oxygen tank.

The late Hauser’s wife, Cali Lili, made an announcement on social media. “Movie icon Wings Hauser took flight in the arms of his film & music partner, Cali Lili Hauser at their studio this weekend,” the post began. “Born in Hollywood, proud Academy member and prouder son of Academy Award winning writer, director, producer Dwight A. Hauser and loving mother Geraldine T. Hauser, Wings Hauser’s one of a kind, legendary career spanned 58 years in movies, tv & music working alongside many of the greatest artists in the industry and earning their respect.”

EW has reached out to a representative for Cole Hauser.

Hauser’s long list of credits was filled with appearances on TV shows, such as Hunter, Airwolf,The A-Team, JAG, and Walker, Texas Ranger. He did longer stints on the series China Beach, on which he played Lt. Col/ “Mac” Miller in 1990 and 1991, and Roseanne. He played Ty Tilden, a neighbor to the Conner family, on several episodes of the sitcom in 1992 and 1993. Over the next three years, Hauser was on a half-dozen episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, portraying J. Jay Jones, a bounty hunter who worked with Luke Perry’s character Dylan to get back the fortune that had been stolen from him.

On Y&R, Hauser first played Greg Foster in 1977 through 1981. But he came back to the part for multiple episodes in 2010.

The son of actor and writer Dwight Hauser — who fell victim to the Hollywood Blacklist, according to THR — and Geraldine, won his nickname in school, where he played the wingback position. His real name was Gerald Dwight Hauser. While he found himself homeless in the ’70s, his luck changed in 1975, when he dropped an album of the easy-listening tunes of the era and appeared on an episode of TV crime drama Cannon. Episodes of shows such as Baretta and Emergency! soon followed. Through the years, he could be seen on Bones, The Mentalist, Cold Case, Monk, House, Arli$$, and more. He earned two of his final credits on Castle and Rizzoli & Isles in 2016.

In addition to a prolific career in television, Hauser starred in movies including Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987), Vice Squad (1992), and 1999’s Oscar-nominated, Michael Mann film The Insider.

The post from his wife, whom THR reported he married in 2002, requested that, in lieu of flowers or cards, tributes be made to the company Cali Lili Indies, in “ongoing support for current and future projects by the award winning sustainable indie film and music studio , a sea-life and butterfly sanctuary hand-built by the Hausers.”