Beverly Heather D'Angelo

The career of Beverly D'Angelo has been captivating, inspiring, and always intriguing for the past more than four decades. Although she may have been in better films than she often appeared in, she was still a captivating persona and one to keep an eye on regardless of the role. Hollywood was impressed by her energetic personality, down-to earth demeanor and her ability to steal scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on November 15, 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of the musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith) who was a violinist, as well as Eugene Constantino "Gene" D'Angelo as a bass player. She also ran a television station. Her maternal grandfather, Howard Dwight Smith, was the architect responsible for the design of the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium at Ohio State University. Her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish and German family ancestry. Her father was of Italian descent. Beverly attended an American school in Florence. The first time she was attracted to art, Beverly worked as an animator and cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions before moving to Canada to pursue a career in rock, To make ends meet she became a session vocalist and sang anyplace she could -- from topless bars to coffeehouses. The teen was asked to sing with Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly legend. Beverly started her career in acting when she was a part of the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and then left Hawkins. While traveling Canada as Ophelia, she saw the opportunity to perform in "Kronborg : 1582" it is a rock musical rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and noticed the promise of Beverly. The show was renamed Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion, the musical director, became part of the cast. The show ran for a short time, but Beverly's Ophelia garnered fine notices. It was soon clear that she would be in the West Coast, with TV and film opportunities. The show never made it back to the stage following this, however, she was part of Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production Sam Shepard’s “Simpatico”, which won her a Theatre World Award. The role she played in the TV mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976) led to bit parts 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). Best of all for Beverly was her dazzling featured performance as the one-and-only Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). SissySpacek, another singer from the country genre and Loretta Lynn's Oscar winner, also expertly recorded their voices.