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YR: Lee Phillip Bell Has Died

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https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/tv-pioneer-lee-phillip-bell-passes-away/

 

Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist Lee Phillip Bell passed away on February 25, 2020 at age 91, according to her children, William James Bell, Bradley Phillip Bell and Lauralee Bell Martin. “Our mother was a loving and supportive wife, mother and grandmother, they said in a statement. “Gracious and kind, she enriched the lives of all who knew her. We will miss her tremendously.” Born in Chicago, Illinois on June 9, 1928, Bell was co-creator, along with her late husband William J. Bell, of Y&R in 1973 and B&B in 1987.  Bell’s career as a broadcast journalist began in Chicago, where she hosted and produced her own show THE LEE PHILLIP SHOW, for CBS TV for over 30 years. A pioneer in the evolution of the afternoon talk show format, Bell was a trailblazer in the exploration of timely social issues and concerns.  Additionally, she produced and narrated numerous award-winning specials and documentaries covering social concerns such as foster children, the subject of rape, children and divorce, and babies born to women in prison, to name a few. Bell interviewed heads of state such as Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan; film actors Judy Garland, Clint Eastwood and Jerry Lewis; musicians such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles; television and stage stars such as Lucille Ball, Jack Benny and Oprah Winfrey; and many other politicians, authors, journalists, fashion designers and rock stars. She was awarded 16 regional (Chicago) Emmy awards and numerous Golden Mike awards. Bell is also the recipient of the Alfred I. Dupont/Columbia University Award for the special, THE RAPE OF PAULETTE, the first program in Chicago to explore the issue. In 1977, she was the first woman to receive the coveted Governors Award from the Chicago chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.  In 1980, she was named “Person of the Year” by the Broadcast Advertising Club of Chicago and the “Outstanding Woman in Communications” by the Chicago YMCA.  She also received the Salvation Army’s William Booth Award for her distinguished career in communications and social service. Bell won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series as co-creator of The Young and the Restless in 1975 and was recipient of the Daytime Emmys’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. In addition to her children, Lee Phillip Bell is survived by her daughters-in-law Maria Arena Bell and Ambassador Colleen Bell, her son-in-law Scott Martin and eight grandchildren. 

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13 hours ago, DaytimeFan said:

A little piece of trivia: Lee’s brother was a renowned florist and it is because of her that Y&R and B&B always have fresh cut flowers on set. 

 

She lived an accomplished, graceful life and was surrounded by many who loved her. 

 

I hope she was greeted by Jeanne and Darlene and has been reunited with her beloved Bill.

What a lovely piece of trivia.  As others have stated, it really did set the show apart for a long time.  The show opening up quite often on a table or desk with flowers on it then panning to the character walking into the room, answering the door or phone, opening mail, etc was such an identity staple for me with Y&R.

  • Member
5 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

I think Bill credited Lee's background as a talk show host for influencing topical issues he did on Y&R from time to time.  

 

Bill Bell also praised her tremendously for relocating with him from Chicago to California in 1986 when they were creating B&B.   He said that for him the move wasn't that big of a deal.  But for Lee Phillip, it was a VERY big deal, because in Chicago she was sort of a celebrity --- the precursor of Oprah Winfrey in the talk show market --  and she gave up her local position of celebrity to move to LA, where no one knew her from Adam's housecat.  He said it was only AFTER they'd moved that he truly realized how much she'd given up to accompany him.    

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Very sorry to hear of her passing, I believe she was was the last of daytime's pioneers? 🙁

 

Another fun fact is Lee in the early '90s campaigned heavily for B&B to get full coverage especially in markets that were pre-empting B&B and visited their markets. It worked; by 1995, every CBS station was finally airing B&B

 

 

On 2/26/2020 at 11:01 PM, Antoyne said:

You must be reeeeally fun at parties.

Thank you! I am fun. Because I have the dish and that’s what people really want at parties. RIP Lee but we all know that Bill wasn’t an angel.

  • Member

A thread about a  woman's death is not a party. You are being very distasteful and Vanessa Chamberlain's "Matessa" days were the worst.

 

RIP Mrs Bell. Thank you for everything.  

Come on! Lee wants a party!!! No doubt she’ll be kicking Bill in his nether regions, that cheated. It wasn’t a perfect marriage and she looked the other way so many times. Party on Lee. You deserve it. Kick Bill in the balls!!! 

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4 hours ago, VanessaReardon said:

Come on! Lee wants a party!!! No doubt she’ll be kicking Bill in his nether regions, that cheated. It wasn’t a perfect marriage and she looked the other way so many times. Party on Lee. You deserve it. Kick Bill in the balls!!! 

Brenda Dickson, is this you?

  • Member
8 hours ago, VanessaReardon said:

Come on! Lee wants a party!!! No doubt she’ll be kicking Bill in his nether regions, that cheated. It wasn’t a perfect marriage and she looked the other way so many times. Party on Lee. You deserve it. Kick Bill in the balls!!! 

You’re a little off in the head.

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18 hours ago, mikelyons said:

Brenda Dickson, is this you?

I was going to post this same thing.

 

On 2/29/2020 at 5:38 AM, VanessaReardon said:

Thank you! I am fun. Because I have the dish and that’s what people really want at parties. RIP Lee but we all know that Bill wasn’t an angel.

Your hypocrisy is annoying. You gave some grief to that other poster who kept butting into threads and posting useless information no one cared about, now you are doing the same. If you have dish, share it with people who give a toss, it seems no one on this thread cares. 

  • Member
3 hours ago, will81 said:

I was going to post this same thing.

 

Your hypocrisy is annoying. You gave some grief to that other poster who kept butting into threads and posting useless information no one cared about, now you are doing the same. If you have dish, share it with people who give a toss, it seems no one on this thread cares. 

This +1,000,000

22 hours ago, will81 said:

I was going to post this same thing.

 

Your hypocrisy is annoying. You gave some grief to that other poster who kept butting into threads and posting useless information no one cared about, now you are doing the same. If you have dish, share it with people who give a toss, it seems no one on this thread cares. 

Oh but you do. 

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Nope we do not care about you but what the issue is at least for me is that you highjacked a thread that is to celebrate Lee's life with your backstage gossip no one gives an F about

  • Member
On 2/27/2020 at 12:51 AM, DaytimeFan said:

A little piece of trivia: Lee’s brother was a renowned florist and it is because of her that Y&R and B&B always have fresh cut flowers on set. 

 

 

For a short time, my mom worked at their Phillips Flowers in the Chicago burbs :)

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