Hit Soap Co-Creator to Receive NATAS Lifetime Achievement Award

LOS ANGELES, March 12: Lee Phillip Bell, the co-creator of
CBS dramas such as The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful with her late husband William J. Bell, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).

Lee Phillip Bell co-created CBS’s highly rated daytime
dramas The Young and the Restless and The
Bold and the Beautiful, and was also a
long-term story consultant for both shows. Her husband also received the
Lifetime Achievement Award from NATAS in 1992, which makes the Bells the only
married couple to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award individually from
NATAS. Bell, who was also the host of The Lee Phillip Show, broadcast on WBBM-TV Chicago from 1952–1986,
is widely considered a pioneer in the evolution of the afternoon talk-show
format. Additionally, she has served as producer and narrator on numerous
award-winning specials and documentaries on subjects such as foster children,
rape, children and divorce, and babies born to women in prison.

Over the course of her career, Bell has been honored with
scores of awards that include the 1993 Broadcaster of the Year Award from the
American Women in Radio and Television; the 1993 Director’s Choice Award from
the National Women’s Economic Alliance Foundation; 16 local Emmy Awards in
Chicago and an Emmy Award in 1980 for Community Service; and an Emmy and Alfred
I. Dupont-Columbia University Award for producing the special The Rape of
Paulette, the first televised program
dealing with the subject.

Currently in its 34th season, The Young and
the Restless has been the number-one rated
drama for more than 18 years, and is the only daytime drama produced in
high-definition. The Bold and the Beautiful ranks as the number-two rated daytime drama in the
U.S. and is the most watched daily drama in the world with millions of viewers
in more than 140 countries. It celebrates its 20th anniversary this
month.