Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Intriguing, inspiring, and never less than interesting -- key adjectives to describe the work of Beverly D'Angelo, which has well passed the four-decade mark. Although she might have been in more prestigious films than she typically appeared in, she was still an interesting persona and one to watch no matter what the role. She was not the shrinking violet kind, Hollywood counted on her because of her vivid character, laid-back manner of life and scene-stealing capabilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on November 15, 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith) violinist as well as 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 went to an American school in Florence. Beverly was at first drawn to art and worked as animator and cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions. She then relocated to Canada to pursue a career in rock music. In order to make ends meet she performed wherever she could anywhere from topless bars to coffeehouses. The teen was asked to join Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly legend. Beverly started her career in acting when she joined the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and quit Hawkins. While traveling Canada as Ophelia She was given the chance to be in "Kronborg : 1582" it is a rock musical rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and noticed the promise of Beverly. In the end, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was overhauled and transformed into the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet". The show made it to Broadway in 1976. Although the show was not long-lived the character of Beverly's Ophelia was a hit and soon she was in the West coast with film and television opportunities. She did not return to the stage again after her departure, but she was the main character in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production, Sam Shepard's "Simpatico that earned her an Theatre World Award. She appeared in the TV miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976) as well as later playing the role of a minor character in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977), both Woody Allen classics. A series of co-starring roles came with First Love (1977), the Clint Eastwood starrer Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and the film version of the popular music video Hair (1979). Beverly's greatest performance was of Patsy Cline (the one and only) in the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). SissySpacek who was another country star and Loretta Lynn's Oscar winner, also expertly provided their voices.