Beverlee McKinsey

I was sad to see in today’s paper that Beverlee McKinsey died last week at 72 of complications from a kidney transplant. I loved her portrayal of Iris Carrington on my all-time favorite soap opera, “Another World.” Watching her over the years brought me a great deal of pleasure.

On stage, McKinsey’s most notable role was probably that of Honey in the original London production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1964, opposite Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill.

I never saw her on stage, but I loved her on AW. From 1970 to 1979, McKinsey played a manipulative, father-obsessed, rich villain, the kind soap fans love to hate. Hers was one of the many fabulous performances I enjoyed over the years on AW, the classic soap that launched (or sustained) the careers of so many solid actors -- Anne Heche, Morgan Freeman, Ray Liotta, Lindsay Lohan, Kelsey Grammer, Kyra Sedgwick, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Billy Dee Williams, Brian Murray and Faith Ford, to name a few.

To my great disappointment, and that of many, many others, AW went off the air in 1999 after 36 years. I was thrilled several years later when Soapnet brought back reruns for a few years. Last year at about this time, though, Soapnet pulled AW from its lineup and, to my continued disappointment, it has not returned.

God bless Beverlee McKinsey. And may AW be returned to Soapnet ASAP!