Beverly Heather D'Angelo

The career of Beverly D'Angelo, which spans forty years, is fascinating inspirational, inspiring, and certainly more than captivating. Although she may be deserving of better films than the ones she was typically in, she nevertheless was always the object of fascination , and the person to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood loved her vibrant persona, relaxed manner of speaking, and ability to take scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on November 15, 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of the musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith) violinist, and Eugene Constantino "Gene" D'Angelo an experienced bassist who also managed a TV station. Howard Dwight Smith, her maternal grandfather, was the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium architect at Ohio State University. Her mother was an English, Irish and Scottish-born mother. Her father was Italian. Beverly had attended 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. She was invited to sing with Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly legend. Beverly's acting career began after she quit the Hawkins band and joined the Charlottetown Festival repertory company. 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 stumbled across a show and recognized the potential in Beverly and the show. In the end, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was completely reworked and became the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet". It made it to Broadway in the year 1976. Although the show was short-lived Beverly's Ophelia was given a lot of attention and soon she was finding herself in the West coast with TV and film opportunities. The actress never made it back to the stage following her time on stage, but she did perform alongside Ed Harris in 1995's off-Broadway production Sam Shepard’s "Simpatico", earning her Theatre World Award. She appeared in the TV miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976) and then played an insignificant role in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977), both Woody Allen classics. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's film Every Which Way but Loose (78) and the film version of the cult Counterculture Hair (1979) included a number of the co-starring roles she played. One of the most memorable moments for Beverly was her explosive lead role as the sole Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). She and Sissy Spacek, who is a close friend of country singer Loretta Lynn, each provided the vocals with aplomb.