Daytime Drama Pioneer William Bell Passes: Co-Creator of The Young & the Restless and Much More
Daytime drama legend William Bell, who created, wrote for, directed and produced a wealth of highly successful soaps, including long-running phenom The Young & the Restless and The Bold & the Beautiful, died April 29 at UCLA Medical Center. Bell, 78, reportedly suffered complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Bell’s extraordinary career spanned more than four decades. He won nine Emmy awards, and is credited with contributing to more than 15,000 episodes of daytime television serials. His work won exceptional followings with daytime viewers—especially those fans of CBS stalwart Young & the Restless, who have been hooked on the lives and loves of fictional Genoa City and held Y & R in the number one slot above all other soaps for over 16 years.
“Bill Bell is one of the true pioneers of daytime television,” CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves said in a statement. “He is without peer in his ability to create the most compelling, endearing stories and characters, and keep them fascinating for years on end. We are incredibly saddened by his passing for the daytime community has lost a true legend, and the CBS family has lost a friend.”
Born on March 6, 1927, the Chicago native landed his first break in 1956 as a writer on the Guiding Light, and later moved on to write for As the World Turns. In 1966, he became head writer on Days of Our Lives and helped to turn Days into one of the top daytime dramas.
In 1973, Bell teamed with wife, Lee Phillip Bell, to create The Young & the Restless, which has consistently remained the ratings topper among soaps for 16 years. While still writing for Y & R, Bell teamed with his wife again in 1987 to create another top daytime contender, The Bold & the Beautiful. In the late 1990s, Bell moved on from the writer's chair on Young & the Restless and took over as executive producer.
Melody Thomas Scott, a veteran actress on The Young & the Restless, eloquently remembers Bell as a “supremely gifted writer, a fearless and farseeing producer, a tireless champion of our industry and a gentleman.” Rhonda Friedman, the show’s supervising producer, noted that Bell understood that daytime drama was “not just about lavish weddings and extravagant remotes, but about the smaller, day-to-day moments between family, friends and community.”
Bell’s three children followed their parents into the business. Daughter Lauralee is an actress on The Young & the Restless. His son Bill heads Bell’s TV production company. His son Bradley is head writer and executive producer on The Bold & The Beautiful.
In William Bell’s Own Words: Special From the ATAS Archive of American Television
On July 15, 1998, Bell was interviewed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Archive of American Television. Below are some excerpts from his three-and-a-half hour interview. The entire interview may be screened at the archive offices at the Television Academy in North Hollywood. For more information, call (818) 509-2260.
On creating The Young & the Restless:
“We submitted the show as The Innocent Years. We built it and had the thing all put together when something terribly obvious occurred to us. In 1972, there were no more innocent years; the innocence was in the sixties. Now—by the time you’d hit the seventies—it was a whole different world and a whole different universe. We moved on to The Young & The Restless, which we felt was an elegant title.”
On writing:
“For the last fifteen years, the network hasn’t known what I’m doing. I just do it, and they don’t know what they’re going to get until they get the script. I don’t say that with any kind of arrogance. It just became a simpler way to operate. Up until that time, I’d write long-term projections or short-term projections. It got to a point that I just decided (that) I didn’t want to go through that labor. I like the idea of working on a day-by-day basis, and I’ve done it ever since. There have been no problems with the network.”
On keeping his storylines fresh:
“You know your characters so well. That’s why I keep characters so long: because I know them so well. And because I know them so well? I can find untouched facets to their lives and stories and relationships.”
On the viewing audience:
“I can sense, in the way I write stories, who’s going to be interested in what story. I purposely write stories where there are facets that will totally involve all age groups. There’s more of a focus on the twenty-to-thirty group, and certainly, the fifteen-to-twenty group. That’s your primary age of audience, but you can’t forget the over-fifties. They are a very strong and loyal audience.”
On his formula for success:
“People you can relate to, and identify with, stories that affect your life and impact you, are much more than looking on as an observer. You are getting emotionally involved with these characters, and that is so important. I think that's the difference.”
On how he would like to be remembered:
“As someone who did his best and really had an impact on people.”
- Juliana J. Bolden