Remember When: Who Was Bill Spencer, Sr on The Bold and the Beautiful?

We know Bill Spencer as The Bold and the Beautiful's beloved barracuda, “Dollar Bill,” the Spencer Publications magnate who has spent over 15 years lording his money and power over anyone and everyone while flashing his megawatt smile. But did you know that our Bill is not the show's first Bill? Lately, in talks with one-time daughter Luna, the Dollah has been going into detail about his childhood, as Luna has cited her own unstable upbringing as the reason she murdered Tom Starr and Paul Hollis last year. Luna has attempted to find common ground with Bill on this score, and it's caused Bill to relive moments with the father he barely knew.

Did the Spencer apple fall far from the Spencer tree on The Bold and the Beautiful?

If you didn't become a B&B viewer until after 2009, you may not even be aware of Bill's dad, Bill Spencer, Sr. That was the year he died off-screen – a death that brought about Jr.'s arrival in Los Angeles. Was Daddy Bill as awful as Bill has been making him out to Luna? And while we're at it, what do we know about the Dollah's mom that we can compare with his recollections of her? That's what we're here to find out in this B&B Remember When!

Bill Spencer, Sr. was introduced to us in the soap's first episodes in 1987. The iron fist he's been said to have ruled with lately was indeed there from the beginning, though Bill doted heavily on his daughter, Caroline Spencer (the original, not the namesake we met in 2012). Bill gave extra special attention to Caroline because her mother – and Bill's cherished wife – Marion had died a year earlier. Bill cracked the whip at his Spencer Publications conglomerate for sure, but he saved his true acrimony for Caroline's fiancé, playboy Ridge Forrester; Ridge had essentially proposed to the virginal Caroline just so she'd have sex with him. Bill had Ridge followed and, just before Caroline was to walk down the aisle, Bill showed her pictures of Ridge in bed with another woman, which put Caroline into a dead faint at the altar. Whoops.

Bill himself found a new wife in Margo Lynley, but their connection was not the deepest. Although Bill was willing to adopt Margo's infant son, Mark Maclaine, Bill expressed an interest in Stephanie Forrester, for whom Bill had long had feelings, not to mention employees Donna Logan (yes!) and Julie Delorean. Bill also published a series of adult magazines, which is how he met centerfold Donna in the first place. Such a guy!

Continuing to fan the flames of his resentment toward Ridge, Bill did his best to push Caroline toward Ridge's brother, Thorne (remember him?). But Bill shared Ridge's grief when Caroline announced she was dying from leukemia. In a twist only a soap could pull off, Bill found solace in the appearance of Caroline's twin sister, Karen, whom Bill had given up for dead after she was kidnapped as a baby. Bill fussed over Karen as well – he gave her control of Spectra Fashions for a couple of years – but Karen relayed in 2012 that Bill had not approved of Karen coming out as a lesbian nor of Karen's spouse, Danielle (neither of whom we've seen since 2015).

Bill's presence on the show started to diminish in 1993 – when he was in a surprisingly tender romance with Spencer's flighty but down-to-earth secretary, Darla Einstein. Bill came back occasionally until 2003, his most notable actions being procuring a non-FDA approved drug from his pharmaceutical division and installing Bridget in a prestigious pre-med school in Copenhagen, both at Stephanie's behest. Bill wasn't thrilled when he found out Stephanie had used the drug to try and induce an abortion in Morgan DeWitt, Ridge's obsessive ex-girlfriend who had gotten pregnant by him.

So, was Bill Sr. as bad as Bill Jr. has been telling Luna? Yes and no. During Bill Sr.'s 1987-1993 run, he could certainly be ruthless in business, and he wasn't the best husband (like when he got frustrated with all the time Margo was taking in helping her brother Jake, who had been sexually abused as a child). But did he treat people like trash, as our Dollah Bill has said? Not really. Ridge deserved Bill's persecution – and, when you break it down, Bill Sr. never ordered people dumped out of helicopters (Ridge), published hit pieces on transgender models (Maya), or blew up buildings with people inside (Liam and Sally – though let's be fair, Dollar Bill didn't know they were still on the premises).

Given Bill Sr.'s refusal to accept Karen's sexual orientation and the fact that his dying wish was to sic his son on the Forresters to avenge Stephanie by relieving them of control of Forrester Creations, it would seem Bill did get more curmudgeonly as he got older. This would fit with Bill telling Luna that his father had to cajole him into being a part of Spencer Publications (who knew! It had always seemed that the Dollah was born in that CEO seat!). Of course, since we don't know when Bill actually met his father, it's hard to gauge when the elder Spencer became this horrible person...or if that's just the junior Spencer's impression of the man later in life.

We also need to look at where Dollar Bill fits into the timeline. Even plugging SORAS into the equation, we know Bill couldn't have been born after his dad drifted away from the canvas in 1993 — Bill was a man in his 40s when he came to us in 2009. Bill also couldn't have been conceived during Sr.'s original run, not unless he cheated on Margo or Darla off-screen (he wasn't said to have slept with Julie Delorean, his most likely candidate for mistress, but you never know).

Bill Jr. seemed similar in age to half-sister Karen, but given how much Sr. grieved for his wife Marion when the show first started, it seems implausible that the OG Mr. Spencer was unfaithful to the OG Mrs. Spencer. Could the Dollah have been born the year between Marion's death and the start of B&B? This would track. Maybe out of some kind of grief sex Sr. went out looking for.

Finally, this brings us to the subject of Bill Jr.'s mother, whom Bill described to Luna as awful and a manipulator. The slate is clean on that one because B&B has never, in a decade and a half, revealed the identity of Bill's mom. So, she could be given any personality traits imaginable. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, aligned with the current story, we finally got to meet her? Maybe a force to be reckoned with, a woman who instilled such fear that even the dastardly Dollah became a total wimp in her presence? (Insert image of Mama Bill tugging on Bill's ear to get her way.) Too bad Elizabeth Hubbard (ATWT's Lucinda) is no longer with us; she'd have been perfect. It would have to be a soap vet, no question. Hey — Colleen Zenk (ATWT's Barbara, Y&R's Jordan) is available!

You've just Remembered When about Bill Spencer, Sr. on Soap Central. To find out more about him and his family tree, check out Bill's character profile here.

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