Soap Legend Beverlee McKinsey Dies

After reading this on several boards I still cannot believe it.

Alex blasting Roger at the country club is one of the best scenes in GL history.

What a terrible day for daytime and its fans, including even those who did not get to see Ms. McKinsey at the height of her powers. She was an extraordinary actress and will be missed terribly.

tanyia2 this is for you - Alex Blasts Roger at the Country Club (watch in this order; mislabled on YouTube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSfoh9IK7MA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-9Lw3flD0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qQbHpaYohc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDrljlOl42I

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

She was absolutely magnificent on the guiding Light.I never got to see her on another world. I do know that she never got an emmy. She was nominated four times for another world.In 1992,her castmates on the guiding light made her submit her name for emmy consideration.She had given up hope for years. THe stupid actors and actresses on the other shows did not nominate her.She would have beaten Erika Slezak in 1992 with her wretching performance ,finding out she gave birth to twins.I wish someone could find that episode from 1991,I remember Beverly saying they had to carry me out of the studio after that emotional,gut wrenching performance.It was unbelievable and it shows how this emmy system has been screwed up for thirty years, John V. Truisi

I remember when i first started watching gl.Bev was the actress portraying alex and she was just amazing in that role.I know her son works behind the scenes on asoap im pretty sure its gh

Dinah

I so sorry hear this I remember 1st day on AW and I
also watch her on Texas and Gl. When I think of Ms.
McKinsey that that she was "Lady".

Dinah

And I know that her son Dirc on Gh Scott McKinsey

Dinah

I so sorry hear this I remember 1st day on AW and I
also watch her on Texas and Gl. When I think of Ms.
McKinsey that that she was "Lady".

Dinah

And I know that her son Dirc on Gh Scott McKinsey

I watched AW from the crib, however I was only a toddler when she left, but I grew up hearing about the notorious Iris. In fact when Carmen Duncan came on as the second Iris, all I heard from my grandparents is how "that other Iris would have taken Paulina down!" Or "This Iris, is good, but that OTHER Iris didn't play!" So I definitely got the picture that McKinsey's Iris was the "real" Iris. Then when I would visit my aunt in the summers who watched Guiding Light instead of Santa Barbara, I would catch her on Alex. I remember her thundering voice and how she was both commanding and feminine. I got hooked on her battle with Kimberley Simms' Mindy over Alex's son Nick (Vincent Irizarry). By the time I started watching GL full-time it was near the end of her run, but her scenes with Rick Hearst's Alan Michael are among my favorites.

Sadly I never seen Iris on AW, but on AOL Video I have seen her on Texas, and many clips of her from Guiding Light. She was an amazing actress Guiding Light should honor her passing one day after the show.

R.I.P. Bev. She was awesome!

***///Living In The World Of Soaps Since 1985\\\***

Thanks so much for youtube clips! Wasn't she great? And wasn't the writing great? Gosh, don't you miss great writing?

jkay

You're welcome, jkay! A fantastic scene.

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

Doh! If I would have read these replies, I would have realized you guys already had the clip I posted! LOL

Jay, it's quite alright! One cannot get enough of that scene. As Alexandra runs down the list of people, the one that justgrabs me is her apology to Henry Chamberlain.

Tanyia22 is the real hero here for archiving the clips in the first place, as you so duly noted! So it's all good!

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

Yes, Henry jumped right out. I had almost forgotten about Vanesssa's dear old daddy. What is it with GL and their terrific older generation: Hawk, Henry, HB Lewis, Alan (RIP Christopher Bernau, the original Alan, I just read he was one of the first out actors on daytime), and now Alex. GL was blessed to get memorable replacements for McKinsey and Bernau.

We pretend Joan Collins never happened.

Muze,

In another defense of GL, I think criticism regarding those particular actors is a little off the mark. In the cases of William Roerick (Henry) and Larry Gates (H.B.), those wonderful actors were already fairly up in years and were working on Guiding Light right up until their health failed them. Christopher Bernau worked until his health failed him as well, mainly due to complications due to AIDS at a time when the disease was barely treatable and HIV drugs were barely out the gate. While Gil Rogers (Hawk) was phased out many years ago, at 74 years old Mr. Rogers pops in an out of GL to this very day.

Finally, Marj Dusay (Alexandra) has been on recurring status for a long time but still makes appearances and recently had a fairly meaty storyline with Cyrus.

The issue of older vets being phased out is as old as daytime dramas have been on the air and is not unique to GL; it is a larger discussion to be had elsewhere. But, cast member for cast member on its canvas, Guiding Light has an unusually high number of vets involved in major stories or on heavy recurring basis (as much a function of its tight budget as anything else). But they are there...

By the way, I loved Joan Collins as Alex. Unfortunately, she couldn't handle the high pressure of working in daytime (citing her previous book deal as an excuse to cut and run), but there was some genuine potential with her.

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

DS9Sisko, I have to respectfully chime in. GL has the worst record of all the soaps on the air of putting vets out to pasture. This is the soap that fired Jerry ver Dorn, Grant Alexander and Jay Hammer.
 
They keep brilliant people like Liz Kiefer and Maureen Garrett on recurring; the showed Peter Simon the door, only use Maeve Kinkead sparringly and most notably have had their most popular leading lady-Kim Zimmer on once a week for months. This show even tries, quite often to put Beth Chamberlain and Michael Leary on recurring! I believe they would try it with Robert Newman if they thought they could get away with it.

 Even GH with it's Kill 'EM If Their Last Name Begins With Q mantra has a better record of keeping popular vets front and center. I'm not saying that all of the vets from the 80s have to still be on a show, but who do they really have in terms of younger actors or actresses that will give them more mileage than Maureen Garrett? 

Jay, we don't disagree on this issue in general.

My comments were specific to the characters mentioned by Muza and mostly due to the fact that GL does try to do something with the vets it currently has left that is germane (however tangentially) to the actual storylines going on rather than mere window dressing for special occasions.

As sporadic as Maeve Kincaid (And Kurt McKinney) have been on screen, they had a mini-storyline of their own tied to Cyrus & Dinah. When is the last time one can say that about Bobbi (Jackie Zeman) or Audrey (Rachel Ames) on GH, Palmer (James Mitchell, even before his health started declining) and until very recently Opal (Jill Larson) on AMC, or Mickey Horton (newly recast with Kevin Dobson) on Days? Jordan Clarke got meaty material during the Reva cancer story and his own alcoholism storyline. Beth Chamberlain, even on recurring, has been used heavily for the last few years. Yet I completely agree with you regarding the shameful way that Liz Keifer and Maureen Garrett have been respectively treated, but I don't think anyone can argue that outside of the disgraceful circumstances of Michael Zaslow's ouster many years ago on GL that Keifer or Garrett got a worse deal than Julia Barr, who played Brooke English on AMC. And has not this site reported on the apparent very recent ignoble firing of Joseph Mascolo, one of their all-time most popular actors, from Days much less the contractual ping pong played with Renee Jones? Even Y&R, long regarded as one of the pillars of using vets in its current cast, has nonetheless phased out three entire core families that were the center of Genoa City: the Fosters, Brooks, and Prentiss clans.

I notice that you mentioned the 80's as far as vets are concerned. But what about the 70's, the long heralded golden age of daytime drama? Or the 50's and 60's-- when there was somewhere between 25 and 30 daytime soaps on the air! -- for those long, long time viewers who have fond memories of characters and the actors who played them (many of whom are still alive and kicking) on GL like Rita Stapleton, the Fraziers, the Holdens, Leslie Norris, Justin Marler or the legendary Hope Bauer?

My point basically is you are absolutely correct about the way vets are and have been treated, but that is really an industry-wide phenomenon that, unfortunately, is as old as the genre itself and which is not limited to any particular show, head writing regime or producer. From budgets to executive whim to writer indifference, vets get a boot out the door. And you know as well as I do that the 18-34 demographic sought by advertisers mostly propels the stupid decision to phase out all but the most popular veteran actors over 40; young and new has always been the "in" thing on soaps and even our beloved veterans of today like Bo & Hope, Josh & Reva, and Luke & Laura were the young hot things who replaced someone else's beloved veterans.

In my opinion despite GL's record and the various pressures they now face, I think they have done pretty good to keep the veteran actors and their respective characters they currently have on canvas at least somewhat active in storyline. But I would love for them do do MUCH more. And for God's sake, get Maurren Garret back!

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

My comments on the older GL generation were affirming that they had a plethora of very well-developed characters in that generation - who were working daily and were integral to the show. Tone doesn't show so well online, as we all know.

I always approach GL from a place of love, since it's been my favorite soap since I started watching. I may not be watching daily now but I support the show, don't want it to be cancelled and overall I think it's great that it is trying to be a pioneer with format change. I really liked the positive GL suggestions from a few weeks ago, because I don't think GL holds the worst-soap mantle all by itself, and there is so much potential.

I do however, wish P&G wasn't so damn cheap and they didn't throw away wonderful actors. Like Kim Zimmer said they're paying her either way, so the choice not to work her is especially beguiling and spiteful.

Nobody disputes that soaps are pitiful in putting older actors out to pasture. DS9 hit the nail on the head about the push/pull between attracting younger viewers and pleasing older viewers. I still believe the problem the industry phases isn't that young people aren't interested in soaps -- it's that competition for viewers across all mediums has increased tenfold. And people's viewing habits have shifted from day to night. I feel like screaming at all these show runners when they think that history doesn't matter. I am still within their coveted 18-34 dynamic, yet I know history, love it and want to see veterans...Because I grew up with them too! I watched soaps with my aunt and mom, just like most of us did. That gives soaps something special that most primetime shows will never have - soap operas become cherished family memories. They are handed down.

I remember being young, probably pre-teen, when Lily and Holden got together. That was the most exciting story for me then... Yet I also loved Tom and Margo, Iva, Lucinda Walsh, etc. I think soaps truly sell the young kids short by presuming they will only be interested in teen storylines. Has ATWT figured out yet that the teen set that worships Nuke also tunes in for Brad and Katie? I respect their efforts to get younger viewers too. That's why I think Days, which brought in a slew of super-couple types to basically stave off cancellation, has to be a bit careful. (Even though I enjoy Tony and Anna from time to time, I would never have made the Belle/Shawn for Tony/Anna trade).

I'm sure there are arguments that can be made for/against specific soaps' treatment of vets. For me, GL has been one of the worst because off what Jay said - that and dumping Michael Zaslow when he was diagnosed with ALS. That was disability discrimination and utterly insane. Can you imagine the Roger Thorpe with ALS story if written well? It would've been dynamite (so long as they didn't turn Roger into Tuesdays with Morrie). They deserve credit for Alan and Alex, absolutely. But I also wonder, like Jay, why they flushed brilliant vets down the toilet, especially when Liz Keifer and Grant Aleksander were still pretty young to be thrown out. I still marvel that someone who is as unique and loved as Kiefer doesn't have a job in soaps. Of course you can say the same thing about Garrett. (Like mother like daughter) I gave One Life high marks when they immediately picked up Jerry Ver Dorn after GL tossed him out with the trash - as if they were so certain he wouldn't be missed or coveted elsewhere.

Ok enough of my babbling. Lately I've been tough on my soap and I think it is PTSD for the way Gus went out, which is just ultra-stupid on so many levels.

Jay and DS9,

Muze and Jay,

We are not as far apart on this as it might appear on the surface. Without my usual disquisition, I think it is safe to say that we are all looking at the same glass with varying opinions as to how much liquid with which it is filled.

When it comes to how vets are treated, I think it is easy for many of us to say that such and such soap should do everything they can to keep certain actors and characters on the canvas because there is so much potential and history. Just look at how ATWT with its own history of veteran use and misuse has suddenly restored life to Margo and Tom via her long ago rape and their tumultuous history with Emily using Casey as a catalyst.

Yet there are lots of reasons why vets are let go that go far beyond the wishes of fans. Some of these make sense for the series in question. Many of them make no sense at all: remember what is generally credited with GL's long downhill slide? The decision to kill off Maureen Bauer (Ellen Parker) because of some ludicrous focus group! When I am defending or criticizing GL or any other soap I am not just doing so from the position of a fan with my own ideas of how things should be done (I bet I could fix every soap on the air! LOL....how many times have we fans said that?) but also from a long term historical perspective and as a businessman myself who has to deal with not too dissimilar decisions such as those faced by "the suits" who run the shows.

I agree wholeheartedly that P&G needs to pull a Brian Frons and cough up some dough for BOTH As the World Turns and Guiding Light when it comes to talent. ATWT has been blessed with some really excellent casting choices in the youth and recast department, but that only goes so far. Familiarity provides stability for long term viewers, too. Contrary to some assertions, change has always been a part of soap operas since the first one premiered. But there are better ways to handle change and the treatment of vets than throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

"The truth is just an excuse for lack of imagination." - Garak, Deep Space Nine

You know what - I just happened to be peeking around YouTube and came across some old videos of Bev as Iris. i never saw her on AW. Like a lot of the posters above I have only seen her on GL. But my God! You all just have to watch her on Texas! What she does to this poor girl named Paige is so cunningly delicious. She really was the greatest actress on soaps - and yes i think she's better than "her" and "her"! RIP peace Miss McKinsey