Beverlee McKinsey, an actress best known for roles she played on the daytime soap operas “Another World” in the 1970s and “Guiding Light” in the 1980s, has died. She was 72.
Ms. McKinsey died May 2 at Olympic Medical Center in Los Angeles. The cause of death was complications after a kidney transplant, said her son, Scott McKinsey.
In an acting career of more than 30 years, Ms. McKinsey began in New York theater. She moved to Hollywood in the late 1960s and landed her first major role on daytime television as Iris Carrington, a meddling villainess she created for “Another World.”
“Beverlee came to soap opera with an extraordinary background as an actress,” said Michael Logan, who writes the “Soaps News” column for TV Guide. “She was known for playing connivers, but always with soul. She never created a cartoon villain.”
Ms. McKinsey was nominated four times for a Daytime Emmy award but never won.
She re-created the role of Carrington for “Texas,” a daytime soap opera that launched in 1980 and aired for about a year.
Her next major role was Alexandra Spaulding on “Guiding Light,” which she played from 1984 to 1992. Ms. McKinsey’s character was a matriarch and a force in the family business, Spaulding Enterprises.
Her sudden departure from the show in 1992 stunned the rest of the cast — and viewers. Ms. McKinsey announced that she was quitting as she was about to go on vacation, saying only that the hours were too long and she wanted a more normal life.
