Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo's life has been fascinating, inspiring, and always fascinating for four years. Even though she was in better films than the ones she usually found herself in, Beverly D'Angelo was still an interesting persona and one you should keep an eye on regardless of the role. She was not the shrinking violet kind, Hollywood counted on her for her vibrant persona, casual manner of speaking and ability to steal scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on November 15, 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith) who was a violinist and Eugene Constantino "Gene" D'Angelo as a bass player. She also managed a TV station. Howard Dwight Smith was her maternal grandfather, and also the architect of the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium. Her mother was of German, Irish, Scottish and German origin, while her father was Italian. Beverly was educated in the American school in Florence, Italy. Beverly began her job as an animator/cartoonist Hanna-Barbera Productions. After moving to Canada, Beverly became a session performer and sang wherever she could, even in coffeehouses and bars with topless seats. At one point the teenager was invited to perform with the rockabilly legendary Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly's acting career started when she left Hawkins and joined the Charlottetown Festival. While she was touring in Canada, Ophelia was playing the part of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582" the musical rock adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen Dewhurst saw potential in Beverly and the production. The show was later renamed Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion who was the musical director joined the mix. The show was only a few months in existence, but Beverly's Ophelia garnered fine notices. The show soon found her in the West Coast, with television and film roles. She never returned to the stage after this, but she was the main character in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico that earned her a Theatre World Award. A role in the TV mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976) brought her small roles in The Sentinel (1977) and in the Woody Allen classic Annie Hall (1977). First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood-starrer Every Which Way but Loose (78) as well as the film version of the popular Counterculture 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). Both she and Oscar winner Sissy Spacek (as fellow country singer Loretta Lynn) expertly supplied their own vocals.