Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Interesting, inspirational, and never less than intriguing -- are the main adjectives when describing the career of Beverly D'Angelo, which has more than four decades of success. Even though she was in better films than she often appeared in, Beverly D'Angelo was an intriguing character and the one you should keep an eye on no matter what the role. Hollywood admired her vibrant personality, down-to earth demeanor and her scene-stealing skills. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was the daughter of Eugene Constantino Gene "Gene" D'Angelo and Priscilla Ruth Smith who was a violinist and a bass player, who also owned a television station. Howard Dwight Smith was her maternal grandfather and the architect of the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium. Her mother was of German, Irish, Scottish and German descent, and her father was Italian. Beverly was educated in an American school in Florence, Italy. Beverly began her profession as an animator/cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions. After moving to Canada, Beverly became a session singer who sang everywhere she could, even in coffeehouses and bars with topless seats. Ronnie Hawkins invited Beverly to join his rockabilly group at the time. Beverly began her career in acting when she was a part of the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and left Hawkins. While touring Canada as Ophelia She was given the opportunity to appear in "Kronborg  1582" that is a rock musical version Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and saw promise in Beverly. The show was later renamed Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion, the musical director, joined the show. Although the show was short-lived Beverly's Ophelia received a prestigious review, and soon she found herself in the West coast with TV and film opportunities. From that point on, she seldom returned to the stage, though she did appear with Ed Harris in the 1995 off-Broadway show of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico", which earned her an Theatre World Award. She was part of the TV miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976), and later played an insignificant role in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977), both Woody Allen classics. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's starring role in Every Which Way but Loose (78), and the film version of the cult counterculture music Hair (1979) were some of her co-starring roles. Beverly's greatest performance was of Patsy Cline (the one and only) in the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). SissySpacek, another country singer Loretta Lynn's Oscar winner, also provided their voices.