Creator Of Classic Soaps ‘The Young & The Restless’ & ‘The Bold & The Beautiful’ Dies
Feb. 27 2020, Published 6:26 p.m. ET
The co-creator of some of the most beloved soap operas of all time has died. Lee Phillip Bell helped launch both The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. She also hosted her own daytime talk show in Chicago for 33 years.
Bell, 91, died Tuesday February 25 of natural causes at her home in Los Angeles.
“Our mother was a loving and supportive wife, mother and grandmother,” her family said in a statement. “Gracious and kind, she enriched the lives of all who knew her. We will miss her tremendously.”
Bell and her husband William J. Bell co-created two of daytime television’s most successful and enduring dramas. Y&R has been on the air since 1973, while “The Bold and the Beautiful will mark its 33rd anniversary in March.
Lee won a Daytime Emmy award for outstanding drama series for Y&R in 1975, and received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys in 2007.
Her husband died in 2005. She is survived by her sons William and Bradley and daughter Lauralee Bell Martin, who appears on The Young and the Restless.