Mac Cory
| Mac Cory | |||||||||||||||||||
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Douglass Watson as Mac
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| Another World character | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Robert Emhardt (1973–74) Douglass Watson (1974–89) |
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| Duration | 1973–89 | ||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | May 1, 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | May 10, 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Harding Lemay | ||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Paul Rauch | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances |
Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crossover appearances |
For Richer, For Poorer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Publishing magnate | ||||||||||||||||||
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Mackenzie "Mac" Cory is a fictional character from the daytime soap opera, Another World. Originally portrayed by Robert Emhardt from 1973 to 1974, Douglass Watson portrayed the role from 1974 until 1989.
After Watson died unexpectedly in May 1989, his death was written into the show with Mac dying off-screen of a heart attack. Mac was one of the show's most popular characters. His pairing with Rachel Davis made them one of the show's most beloved couples. It is believed among many fans that AW was never the same after his death.
Character history
Backstory
Mackenzie Cory was born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts. After studying at Dartmouth, he served in World War II. Mac then obtained an MA in journalism from Northwestern University. He married his first wife, Emily, in the 1930s. Mac became a multi-millionaire by building his company, Cory Publishing, into one of the country's biggest publishing houses.
Children
Mac had six children. He had one biological son, Alexander "Sandy" Cory, and three biological daughters, Iris Wheeler, Amanda Sinclair, and Paulina Carlino. Mac also adopted Rachel's son Matthew and had a close relationship with Rachel's other son, Jamie Frame.
While married to Emily, Mac had an affair with Sylvie Kosloff, who, unbeknownst to him, became pregnant. When Sylvie was sent to prison, she asked Emily to adopt her baby. Emily took the baby home and named her Iris, and they raised her to believe she was Mac and Emily's biological daughter. Mac was completely unaware that Iris was in fact his biological daughter.
Amanda was the only biological child he and Rachel shared. Mac never met Paulina, who came to Bay City after his death. Mac had an affair with Maria Hernandez DeSilva, Paulina's mother, 30 years prior, when Mac was a reporter covering the revolution in San Cristobal. Mac was forced to return to the United States, but he had planned to bring Maria over eventually. Those plans were canceled when Mac learned Maria died. Mac never knew that Maria had been pregnant with his child.
Despite not being Matthew's biological father (Matthew was the product of one-night-stand between Rachel and Mitch Blake), Mac loved Matthew as his own from the time he was born. Even after Matthew found out the truth about his parentage, the two remained close until Mac's death, with Matthew considering Mac his father in every way that mattered. Mac always considered Jamie to be his son and the two were always very close.
Life in Bay City
Mac Cory first arrived in Bay City in 1973 to support Iris, whose son, Dennis, was ill. He decided to permanently settle down in Bay City and set up an office of Cory Publishing there. Iris threw a party in honor of her "Daddy", which Rachel ended up crashing. Iris was having her thrown out when Mac came to Rachel's rescue. Mac sent her flowers the next day, and their romance began. Mac also formed a close bond with Rachel's son, Jamie, while Iris fumed over the relationship. During her relationship with Mac, Rachel began to find new depths in herself now that she had unconditional love and support. On Valentine's Day in 1975, Rachel and Mac were married. As a wedding present, Mac bought Rachel the mansion she used to walk by as a child and dream about living in. They were never happy for long, though, mostly due to Iris interfering every chance she could.
Among Iris' many schemes was the hiring of a man to give Rachel horse-riding lessons, hoping the man would try to seduce her. When that didn't work, Iris hired someone at the mansion to cause trouble for Mac and Rachel. A wedge was being driven between Mac and Rachel, but things looked brighter when Rachel became pregnant. In one of her most despicable acts, when Rachel called Iris looking for Mac when she was in terrible pain, Iris just hung up the phone and never told her Daddy. Rachel sadly ended up miscarrying the baby. Mac and Rachel then began to drift apart. He spent his time focusing on moving his company completely to Bay City, while she focused on her art. Over the next decade, Mac and Rachel would divorce twice. However, after each divorce, they would eventually rekindle their romance and then get married again. They also had a child of their own together, a daughter named Amanda. They both also had other lovers and spouses along the way (Janice Frame, Mitch Blake, Alice Frame, and Steve Frame, among others). Having already remarried for the third and final time in 1983, Mac and Rachel renewed their wedding vows in 1986. The two spent the next few years together, committed and in love with each other.
In 1989, Mac learned that Iris, who had returned to Bay City after an eight year absence, was in fact his biological daughter. Prior to Iris' return, a mysterious publishing house called Bennett Publishing had nearly brought Cory Publishing to the brink of destruction. The only thing that was known about Bennett Publishing was that it was run by someone called "The Chief." Rachel teamed up with Donna Hudson to investigate, and found out "The Chief" was none other than Iris herself. She confronted Iris about it, demanding that Iris tell Mac. Mac was devastated by the revelation that Iris was responsible for both the hostile takeover attempt of his company and for having him temporarily framed for murder. Mac disowned Iris and went to Maine to reflect on recent events. Mac died shortly after of a heart attack, without having reconciled with Iris.
Rachel was devastated by Mac's death, and tearfully buried the love of her life. He was her anchor, her lover, and her best friend. Although she eventually fell in love again and remarried years later, a part of her heart would always belong to Mac.
