Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo's career that spans more than more than four decades, is captivating, inspiring and not less than fascinating. Perhaps deserving better movies than she generally found herself in, she was always a source of fascination and the one to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood admirers loved her dynamic 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 who was a violinist and bass player who also ran a television station. Howard Dwight Smith was her maternal grandfather and the designer of the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium. Her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish and German ancestry, and her father was of Italian descent. Beverly was a student at an American school in Florence. Beverly was at first attracted by art and was employed as an animator/cartoonist with Hanna-Barbera Productions. She then relocated to Canada to pursue a career in rock singing. To make ends work she would sing wherever she could anywhere from topless bars to coffeehouses. At one point the teenager was invited to join forces with the rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly started her career in acting when she was a part of the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and quit Hawkins. She was touring Canada in the role of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582", a rock musical version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" when the famous Colleen Dewhurst caught a performance and was impressed by the potential of Beverly and the show. In the end, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was completely reworked and became the rock musical "Rockabye Hamlet". It made it to Broadway in 1976. The show ran for a short time, but Beverly's Ophelia attracted attention with its fine reviews. Soon, she was on the West Coast and was offered television and film roles. She never returned to the stage after the show, however she did make an appearance alongside Ed Harris in 1995's off-Broadway production, Sam Shepard's "Simpatico" and was awarded the Theatre World Award. The role she played in the TV mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976) resulted in minor roles in The Sentinel (1977) and in the Woody Allen classic Annie Hall (1977). A number of co-starring roles followed with First Love (1977), the Clint Eastwood starrer Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and the film version of the popular counterculture musical Hair (1979). Beverly's best performance was that of Patsy Cline (the one and only) in the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). She and Oscar winner Sissy Spacek (as the country singer Loretta Lynn) expertly supplied their own singing.