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. 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's character proved so popular that she was made the star of the soap's spin-off series, Texas, which debuted August 4, 1980. She remains one of two actresses on daytime television to be given a star billing on a soap opera, the other being Rosemary Prinz of All My Children. 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