William J. Bell Net Worth

What Was William J. Bell's Net Worth?

William J. Bell was an American screenwriter and television producer who had a net worth of $300 million. William J. Bell was best known for co-creating the soap operas "The Young and the Restless," "Another World," and "The Bold and the Beautiful." Bell began his career writing for Chicago radio stations. He was the co-creator of "Another World" and co-head writer from 1964 to 1965. William worked as a writer for "As the World Turns" and was the co-head writer from 1965 to 1966.

Bell co-created "The Bold and the Beautiful" and served as head writer from 1987 to 1993 and executive producer from 1987 to 1996. He was the head writer for "Days of Our Lives" from 1966 to 1975 and wrote for "Guiding Light" in the 1950s. William also co-created "Our Private World" and "The Young and the Restless." He was executive producer on "The Young and the Restless" from 1973 to 1976 and then again from 2004 to 2005. He was also senior executive producer from 1976 to 2004, head writer from 1973 to 1998, and executive story consultant from 1998 to 2005. Bell won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 1992. William J. Bell passed away on April 29, 2005, from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 78.

Early Life

William J. Bell was born William Joseph Bell on March 6, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois. His mother had a part-time job at Mrs. Steven's Candies, and his father worked at the Link-Belt Company as an accountant. During his youth, William listened to radio soap operas late at night and when he came home for lunch on school days. He grew up during the Great Depression and spent his weekends working odd jobs to help support his family. As a high school student, Bell joined the ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps). After he served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy, he enrolled at the University of Michigan.

Career

When he was 21, Bell took a job at the Chicago radio station WJJD and wrote for two shows that focused on teen problems. He later worked as a comedy writer at a different Chicago radio station, WBBM. After leaving WBBM, William worked for McCann Erickson, which was the world's second-largest advertising agency at the time. There, he wrote TV and radio commercials for the agency's top account, Standard Oil of Indiana, and was promoted to account executive. After working at McCann Erickson for three years, Cunningham & Walsh offered him a job as an account executive. While working at WBBM, Bell called the office of soap opera creator Irna Phillips and asked her secretary if Phillips had any openings for a writer. The secretary informed him that a job would be available soon, so William began writing a sample script. However, the writer who had been planning on leaving decided to stay. During his time in the advertising industry, Bell ran into Phillips' niece, who subsequently mentioned him to Irna.

Phillips hired Bell as a writer on the CBS soap opera "Guiding Light," then he wrote for another show Irma created, "As the World Turns." Bell and Phillips co-created "Another World" for NBC in 1964, and the following year, they co-created "Our Private World," a spinoff of "As the World Turns." In 1966, William was hired to work on the struggling NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives," and he served as the show's head writer until 1975. In 1972, he co-created the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless," with his wife, Lee Phillip Bell. The show began airing in March 1973, and Bell was the head writer until 1998. In 1986, William and Lee co-created another CBS soap opera, "The Bold and the Beautiful." The show premiered in March 1987, and Bell was the head writer from 1998 to 2005 and also served as an executive producer, senior executive producer, and executive story consultant.

Lee Phillip Bell and William J. Bell (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Personal Life and Death

William married Lee Phillip Bell (née Loreley June Phillip), a former talk show host, in October 1954, and they remained together until his death in 2005. The couple co-created "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "The Young and the Restless," and they welcomed three children together: William James Bell, Lauralee Bell Martin, and Bradley Phillip Bell. All three of William and Lee's children have worked on their parents' shows. Bell passed away from complications of Alzheimer's disease on April 29, 2005, at the age of 78. He was laid to rest at L.A.'s Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Awards and Nominations

Bell earned more than 45 Daytime Emmy nominations, winning 10 awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award (1992). The Soap Opera Digest Awards gave him the Editor's Choice award in 1985 and 1992, and he was posthumously inducted into the Online Film & Television Association TV Hall of Fame in the Behind the Scenes – Producing/Writing category in 2023. William also received Writers Guild of America Award nominations in the Daytime Serials category for "Days of Our Lives" in 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978 and "The Young and the Restless" in 2000.

Real Estate

Over several decades, William J. Bell and his wife Lee Phillip Bell assembled an impressive and highly valuable portfolio of residential real estate, particularly in Los Angeles and Malibu. In 1989, the couple paid $4.365 million for a 3,295-square-foot home in Malibu, California. The four-bedroom, three-bathroom property remained in the family for more than thirty years. After Lee Phillip Bell's death in 2020, the home was listed for $21.5 million and ultimately sold a few months later for $18.3 million, underscoring the dramatic long-term appreciation of Malibu real estate.

Beyond that single property, the Bells owned multiple homes in Malibu's ultra-exclusive gated Malibu Colony, a neighborhood long favored by Hollywood executives, celebrities, and billionaires. One of the family's Colony residences was sold in 2014 to casino magnate Sheldon Adelson for $13.5 million, while another was at one point marketed for nearly $19 million. The family also owned a sprawling Beverly Hills compound that remained in their possession for decades before being sold in July 2020 to LeBron James for an estimated $40 million.

Perhaps the most extraordinary Bell family holding was an 8-acre hilltop estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. Long after William Bell's death in 2005, the property was developed under the supervision of his son William J. Bell Jr., who commissioned renowned architect Tadao Ando to design a 30,000-square-foot concrete mansion. In May 2023, the estate made history when it was sold to Jay-Z and Beyoncé for $200 million, setting the record for the most expensive single-family home purchase in U.S. history.

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