The First Family of Soaps : Television: Married couples heading production teams aren’t unheard of, but Bill and Lee Bell, the creative forces behind two leading soaps, have founded a dynasty.

For husband-and-wife producers William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, today marks the anniversary of the debuts of not one, but two soap operas of their creation. “The Young and the Restless,” the first soap to focus on the younger generation, premiered on CBS on March 23, 1973. “The Bold and the Beautiful,” set in the Los Angeles fashion industry, joined the network’s daytime lineup on the same date in 1987.

Were that not enough reason to break out the champagne, “Y & R” has maintained its No. 1 Nielsen rating since January, 1989, except for one week the following January when an episode was preempted. “B & B,” whose 1,000th episode is scheduled to air Wednesday, most recently ranked fifth of 12 daytime dramas. Both soaps also have huge followings overseas.

Bill Bell, 64, is executive producer and head writer for both shows. Lee Bell, 62, is co-executive producer of “B & B” and long-term story consultant for “Y & R.” And while there have been other married teams at the helm of serials, the Bells’ soap saga could well be subtitled “All in the Family.”

Sons Bill Jr., 28, and Bradley, 26, joined their parents’ Bell-Phillips Television Productions with the advent of “B & B”; Bill is now head of business affairs for the company and Bradley is a “B & B” writer. Daughter Lauralee, 22, began appearing on “Y & R” as a 13-year-old, working summer vacations before moving up to her current co-star status as Cricket Blair Romalotti.

“I’d always felt sorry, when the kids were younger, that we didn’t have a business, something tangible, to leave them--we’d been writing, but not producing,” Bill Bell recalled last week, sitting with Lee in his office at CBS Television City.

“So we became executive producers of ‘Y & R’ in 1980. With Lauralee (when she expressed a desire to act), we felt you have to know what it’s about, so we gave her some lines. Then with ‘B & B,’ I wanted the kids to see what it’s like, creating a concept, and the gestation.”

“B & B” is a family affair in other ways as well. The Bells’ Beverly Hills compound, a renovated hunting lodge formerly owned by Howard Hughes, stands in for the exterior shots of the fictional Forrester family estate. The two Forrester brothers, Ridge and Thorne, are loosely based on the Bell sons.

The real-life similarities end, though, at the story lines for both soaps. “I can’t consciously remember using anything from our own lives on the shows,” Bill said.

And a good thing too, because over the past 18 years, “Y & R” has become noted for its coverage of serious social and medical issues, among them alcoholism, pregnancy and suicide among teen-agers; AIDS; illiteracy, and euthanasia. “B & B” recently became the first soap to deal with the subject of father-son incest and now has a story going about the homeless.

“You realize the impact this has on the audience,” Bill said. “We did a ‘Y & R’ story on infant CPR in conjunction with the Red Cross a couple of years ago, and the next day a woman phoned and said that that very same day she saved her child’s life because of it.”

Yet those scripted events can be unnerving if the actress involved is the producers’ own daughter. When the Bells decided to do a date rape story on “Y & R,” they purposely chose Lauralee’s character as the victim to make the point that sheltered, nice young women were not immune to such a fate.

“I’d been interested in the subject two years before we did it,” Lee recalled. “But as a mother, it was very difficult to watch them taping the rape scene. I wanted to say, ‘Stop!’ ”

The Bells attribute their success in part to what Lee calls the couple’s Midwestern sense of values. Both were born and raised in Chicago, and after marrying in 1954, lived there with their children until 1986. They set “Y & R” in the fictitious Midwestern town of Genoa City.

“I think a Midwestern background can reflect positively on your creative work--you’re raised more in a family atmosphere, there’s more of a sense of friendliness and people caring,” she said. “And since more of the country lives in the Midwest than on the East or West Coast, it’s a good way to keep in touch with people.”

Perhaps it is that same background that gives the couple their soft-spoken, genteel manner, belying their high-stakes work situation. The only head writer with two soaps on the air, Bill rises at 5 a.m. seven days a week to work on the shows’ creative aspects. Lee, whom her husband describes as “the people force,” makes necessary phone calls to network executives, press and fans; attends viewer focus groups to gain their input, and researches show topics.

The couple’s concern for presenting timely social topics dates to Lee’s early ambition to become a social worker. That goal took a detour in 1950, when, as a florist’s daughter, she began filling in for her brother to demonstrate flower arranging on a local Chicago television show.

She subsequently was offered a job as a vacation replacement for station breaks, and in 1954 began hosting her own afternoon talk show. She also contributed to the station’s early-morning show and produced socially oriented specials and documentaries. She has won one national and 16 local Emmys.

Meanwhile, Bill had begun his writing career in 1956 on “The Guiding Light,” wrote for “As the World Turns” and in 1964 co-created “Another World,” with daytime pioneer Irna Phillips. Throughout, he incorporated Lee’s research into his own story lines.

He cemented his growing daytime reputation when he began writing for “Days of Our Lives” in 1966, turning a show that was 13 weeks away from cancellation into the No. 1 soap by 1971.

CBS bought “Y & R” based on his track record, but because of contractual obligations to “Days of Our Lives,” he wrote both soaps for “Y & R’s” first four years. In the 1975-76 season, he was nominated for Emmys for both shows and won for “Days.”

With three real-life offspring and two long-running shows, does the couple ever feel as if they actually have five children?

“More than that,” Bill Bell replied, “because we’ve given birth to every character in our extended family. And we can totally control their whole lives--which is one way that they differ from our own kids.”