OBITUARY
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/8/2005 8:00:00 PM
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.
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