Beverlee McKinsey
McKinsey as Iris Carrington with Paul Stevens as Brian Bancroft on Another World, 1977
Born
Beverlee Magruder

(1935-08-09)August 9, 1935
McAlester, Oklahoma, United States
DiedMay 2, 2008(2008-05-02) (aged 72)
Spouse(s)Mark McKinsey (1956–1962; divorced)
Angus Duncan (1963–1968);
Berkeley Harris (1971 – September 17, 1984; by his death)
Children1

Beverlee McKinsey (August 9, 1935 – May 2, 2008) was an American actress. She is best known for her roles on daytime serials, including Iris Cory Carrington on Another World and the spin-off series Texas from 1972 to 1981 and Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light from 1984 to 1992.

Early life

McKinsey was born Beverlee Magruder in McAlester, Oklahoma, on August 9, 1935.[1] She was the daughter of Warren and Jewell Magruder of McAlester.

McKinsey graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in Drama. Her professional career began in the New York theater. She understudied the leading role of newlywed Corie in the original Broadway production of Barefoot in the Park and was given the opportunity to perform the role opposite Robert Redford several times. She also co-starred as Honey in the London production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, starring Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill. She started her career in Off-Broadway theater, often appearing alongside James Earl Jones and Doris Belack.

McKinsey moved to Hollywood in the late 1960s, and after several appearances in episodic television shows, she appeared on daytime TV. She played Diana Martin, a reporter, on Love of Life, and was then cast in the contract role of Martha Donnelly/Julie Richards (1970–1971) on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing where she worked with future husband Berkeley Harris.

Daytime television career

Iris Carrington

After a brief appearance as Emma Frame on Another World in May 1972, she so impressed then-head writer Harding Lemay that he subsequently cast her in a drastically different role, from dowdy Emma to that of manipulative, scheming Iris Carrington. McKinsey played the role from December 1972 to July 1980. During much of her tenure on Another World, McKinsey's portrayal of Iris was part of an unconventional triangle - the character was trying to break up her father Mackenzie Cory and his new wife, Rachel Davis Frame.

McKinsey was made the star of the soap's spin-off series, Texas, which debuted August 4, 1980. She remains one of three actors on daytime television to be given a star billing on a soap opera, the others being Rosemary Prinz of All My Children and How to Survive a Marriage, and Dana Andrews of Bright Promise.

After McKinsey left the role of Iris in November 1981, NBC's Texas eventually lost one million viewers in the Nielsen ratings and was canceled in 1982.

McKinsey received four Daytime Emmy nominations for her work as Iris.

Alexandra Spaulding

After a hiatus from daytime, Gail Kobe, then executive producer of Guiding Light, lured McKinsey to Guiding Light, on CBS, in February 1984 in the newly created character of wealthy matriarch Baroness Alexandra Spaulding Von Halkein.

The skilled McKinsey made certain that each of her characters were different. On Another World, Iris would do anything to get whatever she wanted. McKinsey played Iris' desire for her father's approval as the root of her need for power. Iris could be pathetic, sympathetic and a tyrant. As Guiding Light's Alexandra, she played the character's love for power and the desire to best her brother Alan Spaulding. And not to forget her longing for the love, affection, and approval of Lujack/Nick, her twin sons who were forcibly taken away from her at birth. Alexandra also cared deeply for her nephews, Phillip and Alan-Michael.

While Alexandra could be a snob (and ruthless) at times, she also could let her hair down, as when she went bowling with then-beau H.B. Lewis (Larry Gates). Her ruthlessness was revealed when Alexandra married Roger Thorpe (Michael Zaslow) then discovered he was involved in an affair with the younger Mindy Lewis. McKinsey's performance during this storyline evolved from kitten-like sweetness to a tiger-based ferocity that had critics cheering. The scene where Alexandra humiliates Roger in public at the Country Club is now considered a Guiding Light classic scene.[2]

In 1992, McKinsey took advantage of an out in her contract and abruptly left GL. Soap journalist Michael Logan wrote about the turn of events:

Interviewing McKinsey was a dream. There were never any "I just love everyone I work with" cliches. After she exited Guiding Light, McKinsey cited her "not very pleasant" work environment for one of the reasons she chose to leave the daytime serial. Looking at her contract, she discovered she could leave the show after every six-month period. So McKinsey took advantage of the contract the day before her annual eight-week vacation. McKinsey went on permanent vacation. McKinsey adamantly defended her choice to exit the show. Her bosses felt they had been bamboozled. "They're bent out of shape because, for once, somebody beat 'em at their own game," she said. "I had warned Jill (the show's then-executive producer Jill Farren Phelps) – although I don't think she paid attention to me – that I was not happy. I was not happy with the story line." She had confided in Phelps previously that she was frustrated enough to quit, and was told in response that perhaps she should read her contract.

McKinsey later quipped that perhaps it was Phelps and the rest of the Guiding Light production team who should have read the contract. "They didn't read the contract! I read it very closely. I knew every word. The next day, they were all combing over the contract. Somebody said, 'Maybe Beverlee's not familiar with the contract.' Well, of course she was! She wrote it, you bozos. She wrote it! I've had this out clause since 1986. I asked for it and it was P&G that determined how much notice they wanted me to give – and they chose eight weeks."

In addition to her issues with storytelling, which she said would not have motivated her to leave if her working environment had been happier, McKinsey noted that acting had simply stopped being fun for her. "The hours just made me crazy. They were too long," she explained.[3]

Personal life

She was married three times, and had one son, Scott McKinsey from her marriage to Mark McKinsey. Her son is a director on the soap opera General Hospital (on which she briefly appeared in 1994).

McKinsey married Berkeley Harris, a co-star from Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, in 1971, and cared for him during his illness from terminal brain cancer prior to his death in 1984.

In 1994, she made a brief appearance as Myrna Slaughter on General Hospital. In an interview, she said she took the role to qualify for her medical insurance, but otherwise adamantly considered herself retired from soaps from that moment in 1992 when she last left the set of Guiding Light. She had resisted all entreaties to return to daytime television. After some health issues, including a kidney transplant, McKinsey retired to Southern California and made few public appearances. Michael Logan famously described McKinsey as "[making] Greta Garbo look like a chatterbox!". Logan, TV Guide's soap columnist, once called McKinsey "…the greatest actress ever to grace daytime drama."

Death

Beverlee McKinsey died on May 2, 2008, at the Olympic Medical Center in Los Angeles, from complications due to a kidney transplant, which she had undergone in 1998.[4]

Filmography

Film

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1969They Shoot Horses, Don't They?DancerUncredited
1969The ReiversGirl by the Boon's CarUncredited
1980Bronco BillyIrene Lily

Television

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
1964The ReporterAnnEpisode: "Murder by Scandal"
1965The Doctors and the NursesEileen MooreEpisode: "Where There's Smoke"
1965The DefendersKaren McDermottEpisode: "Only a Child"
1965SeawayMillieEpisode: "Shipment from Marseilles"
1966HawkMattie MulroyEpisode: "War of Silence"
1968The Second Hundred YearsFloEpisode: "Love on the Double"
1969MannixCarol ChaseEpisode 13 (season 2): "Death Run"
1969
1972
The Mod SquadClaudine Ensign
Evelyn Ellis
Episode: "A Hint of Darkness, a Hint of Light"
Episode: "Another Final Game"
1969The VirginianAbby ClaytonEpisode: "The Substitute"
1969Hawaii Five-OJo Louise MailerEpisode: "The Joker's Wild, Man, Wild!"
1970Death Valley DaysMaud Gage BaumEpisode: "The Wizard of Aberdeen"
1970The F.B.I.Cathy WheatonEpisode: "Summer Terror"
1970–1971Love Is a Many Splendored ThingMartha Donnelly / Julie RichardsUnknown episodes
1971LongstreetSue HazeltonEpisode: "A World of Perfect Complicity"
1971Medical CenterBethEpisode: "The Shattered Man"
1971McMillan & WifeLaurie ForrestEpisode: "Husbands, Wives and Killers"
1972
1972–1980
Another WorldEmma Frame Ordway
Iris Wheeler
Unknown episodes
1972The Delphi BureauGoldieEpisode: "The Man Upstairs-The Man Downstairs Project"
1973CannonRita BellEpisode: "The Dead Samaritan"
1973The ABC Afternoon PlaybreakLorraine CollinsEpisode: "The Other Woman"
1980–1981TexasIris WheelerUnknown episodes
1983The Demon Murder CaseCharlotte HarrisTV movie
1983Remington SteeleAlexis VandermeerEpisode: "Vintage Steele"
1984–1992Guiding LightAlexandra SpauldingUnknown episodes (final television appearance)
1994General HospitalMyrna SlaughterUnknown episodes

Theatre

Theatre
YearTitleRoleVenue
1962P.S. 193Miss NicholsOff-Broadway
1963The Love NestPolly SeekfestOff-Broadway
1963Barefoot in the ParkCorie Bratter (replacement)Broadway
1963Man and BoyCarol Penn (understudy)
Countess Antonescu (understudy)
Broadway
1964Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?HoneyWest End
1964DutchmanLula (replacement)Off-Broadway
1974Mert & PhilLavorisBroadway

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Series Result
1977 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Another World Nominated
Soapy Awards Favorite Villainess Won
1978 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated
Soapy Awards Favorite Villainess Won
1979 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated
1980 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Nominated
1986 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Daytime Serial Guiding Light Nominated
1991 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding Lead Actress: Daytime Nominated
1992 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding Lead Actress: Daytime Nominated
1993 Soap Opera Digest Awards Outstanding Lead Actress Nominated

References

  1. Beverlee McKinsey, 72, Actress in Decades of Soap Operas, Is Dead; The New York Times, May 9, 2008
  2. Video on YouTube
  3. SOD (January 22, 2004). "Wanted: GL's Beverlee McKinsey". Soap Opera Digest. United States: American Media, Inc. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  4. Soaps SheKnows (May 2, 2008). "Soap Veteran Beverlee McKinsey Passes Away…". Soaps.com. United States: SheKnows Media. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
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