Beverly Heather D'Angelo

The career of Beverly D'Angelo that spans nearly forty years, is fascinating as well as inspiring and nothing less than intriguing. It is possible that she deserves better films than the ones she was typically in, she was always a source for curiosity and was a pleasure to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood was impressed by her energetic personality, down-to earth demeanor, and scene-stealing abilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was the daughter of Eugene Constantino Gene "Gene" D'Angelo and Priscilla Ruth Smith she was a violinist as well as bassist, who also ran a television station. Howard Dwight Smith, her maternal grandfather was the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium architect at Ohio State University. Her mother had English, Irish, Scottish and German family ancestry. Her father was of Italian descent. Beverly had attended an American school in Florence, Italy. At first, she was drawn to art. Beverly worked as an animator/cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions before moving to Canada to pursue a rock singing career in order to earn a living. she became the session singer and performed everywhere she could- from coffeehouses to topless bars. At one point the teenager was invited to join forces with the rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly's acting career took off when she left the Hawkins band and joined the Charlottetown Festival repertory company. While on tour in Canada, Ophelia was playing the part of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582", a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen Dewhurst saw potential in Beverly and the show. The show was later renamed Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion, the musical director, joined the show. The show was only a few months in existence, however Beverly's Ophelia attracted attention with its fine reviews. She soon found herself on the West Coast, securing opportunities in television and film. The show never made it back to the stage following this, but she was the main character in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico which earned her an Theatre World Award. The roles in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV role. A string of co-starring roles were followed by First Love (1977), the Clint Eastwood starrer Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and the film version of the popular counterculture musical Hair (1979). The most memorable thing for Beverly was her powerhouse lead role as the sole Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Both she and Oscar award-winning Sissy Spacek (as the country singer Loretta Lynn) effortlessly sung their own singing.