But Mr. Bell's soaps didn't just win awards, they won a following with daytime TV viewers, particularly fans hooked on the lives and loves of the residents in the fictional Genoa City portrayed on ''The Young and the Restless." The CBS show has long held the number one spot against other daytime soaps.
''Bill Bell is one of the true pioneers of daytime television. . . . He is without peer in his ability to create the most compelling, endearing stories and characters, and keep them fascinating for years on end," Leslie Moonves, the chairman at CBS, said in a statement Saturday.
Mr. Bell, a Chicago native, got his start in 1956 as a writer on the soap ''Guiding Light." A year later, he left to write for ''As the World Turns."
In 1966, Mr. Bell became head writer on ''Days of Our Lives," helping to turn the flagging series into one of the top audience draws four years later.
In 1973, he teamed up with his wife, Lee Phillip Bell, and created ''The Young and the Restless." The hourlong show was among the first serials in the 1970s to exploit America's burgeoning youth obsession.
''Bill Bell was a supremely gifted writer, a fearless and farseeing producer, a tireless champion of our industry, and a gentleman," Melody Thomas Scott, a veteran actress on ''The Young and the Restless," said in a statement.
In the late 1990s, Mr. Bell surrendered the head writer's role at the show but took over as executive producer.
He and his wife also teamed up in 1987 to create another daytime stalwart, ''The Bold and the Beautiful," which also offered viewers plenty of attractive characters wrestling with romantic challenges.
''Bill 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," said Rhonda Friedman, the show's supervising producer.
Mr. Bell's writing and production work is credited with contributing to 15,000 episodes of TV daytime drama in the course of his career.
In addition to his wife of 50 years, Mr. Bell leaves three children, who all are involved in the daytime drama business; and eight grandchildren.
