MUMBAI: An icon of the soap opera genre in the US William Bell who co-created, wrote and produced The Bold And the Beautiful and The Young And Restless has passed away at the age of 78.

Bell's writing and production work is credited with contributing to 15,000 episodes of TV daytime drama.

In India The Bold And the Beautiful airs on Star World. Bell died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the University of California. The Young And The Restless supervising producer Edward Scott in a statement on the CBS web site said, "Bill Bell was daytime television's most wonderful storyteller- the Charles Dickens of daytime drama. He was a great mentor and a wonderful guy.

Bell's career as a TV soap writer spanned more than four decades and earned him nine Emmy awards for his writing on The Young and the Restless and for producing and writing Days of Our Lives.

CBS chairman Leslie Moonves said, "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."

Bell got his start in 1956 as a writer on the soap Guiding Light. This is the longest running soap in the history of television. A year later, he left to write for another soap As the World Turns. Bell and his wife teamed up in 1987 to create The Bold and the Beautiful. This offered viewers characters wrestling with romantic challenges.