B&B's John McCook, Y&R's Eric Braeden on what made Lee Phillip Bell extraordinary

The Bold and the Beautiful's John McCook (Eric Forrester) and The Young and the Restless' Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) open up about what made late soap opera creator Lee Phillip Bell so extraordinarily special.

Soap operas are part of the quilt of America, but had it not been for the influence of Lee Phillip Bell, their place in the country's history would be very, very different. Together with her husband, William J. Bell, she created The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful -- two shows that have gone on to become the most watched soap opera in the nation and the most watched soap opera in the world, respectively.

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Lee Phillip, who died February 25 at the age of 91, got her start as the host and producer of The Lee Phillip Show -- long before other Chicago-based talk show personalities like Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue made their mark on the television landscape. Thus, she came into the soap opera world with a strong knowledge of social issues and iron instincts as to what television audiences wanted.

"When she walked into a room, you just knew that this was someone worthy of enormous respect," Eric Braeden (Victor Newman, Y&R) tells Variety of Bell, who he describes as a great lady. "You knew from talking to her that she was someone who was so informed about various subject matters and was so used to talking intelligently on television about them."

Bell's experience producing shows that tackled social issue topics like race relations, divorce, and rape gave her the appetite to push for such topics on Y&R, where it was clear that she had just as much influence over the direction of the show as her husband.

"Think of Bill and Lee as yin and yang. Different sides of the same coin," explains John McCook, who currently plays Eric Forrester on B&B but got his start playing Y&R's Lance Prentiss. "He was the writer and the guy who drove the show. She was the one who wanted the shows to be different. They were a wonderful, beautiful couple in those years."

Adds Braeden of the couple's dynamic, "Bill was like one of the old-school bosses. He was a complete character. Lee was the steadying hand. I've been able to do what I do [on Y&R] for the last 40 years because of them."

For more thoughts from members of the soap opera community on the passing of legendary soap opera creator Lee Phillip Bell, check out Soap Central's original article on her death here.

What do you think about Eric Braeden and John McCook's comments about Lee Phillip Bell and her dynamic with William Bell? How do you feel about Lee Phillip's influence on the daytime genre? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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