Emmy Award-winning daytime-drama creator William Joseph Bell, 78, died
in Los Angeles on April 29 from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Bell began his television career as a writer on Guiding Light in 1956 and continued as a writer on
As the World Turns from 1957 to 1966. In
1964, he co-created Our Private World, the
first continuing serial drama in prime time, with mentor Irna Phillips. Bell
and Phillips created Another World in 1965.
Bell became head writer for Days of Our
Lives in 1966 and subsequently turned the failing drama around,
making it one of the highest-rated shows in daytime. He co-created, with wife
Lee Phillip Bell, The Young and the Restless
in 1973 and The Bold and the Beautiful in
1987.
Bell received nine Emmy Awards and the Governor's Lifetime Achievement
Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Academy
of Television Arts and Sciences.
In 1992, CBS dedicated Studio 43 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles
to both Bell and to The Young and the
Restless.
Bell is survived by Lee Phillip Bell, his wife of 50 years; sons Bill
and Bradley; daughter Lauralee; and eight grandchildren.
