Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Intriguing, inspiring, and never less than intriguing -- are the main adjectives in describing the career of Beverly D'Angelo, which has well passed the four-decade mark. Maybe deserving of better films than the ones she had to be in, she was always an object of fascination , and the person to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood loved her lively charisma, affable manner of speaking, and scene-stealing abilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo is the daughter of Eugene Constantino "Gene", musician and bass player who was also the head of the management of a TV station. She was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 15th, 1951. 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 an English, Irish and Scottish-born mother. Her father was Italian. Beverly went to an American school in Florence. At first, she was drawn to art. Beverly worked as an animator/cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions before moving to Canada to pursue a rock singing career, To make ends meet she was the session singer and performed wherever she could -- from cafes to topless bars. Ronnie Hawkins invited Beverly to join his rockabilly band at one point. 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 opportunity to appear in "Kronborg  1582" it is a rock musical version Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and saw promise in Beverly. Then, musical director Gower Champion joined the mix and the show was completely overhauled and became the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet" that made its way to Broadway in the year 1976. Although the production was only a short run, Beverly's Ophelia was well-received and she soon found herself on the West coast with film and TV opportunities. The show never made it back to the stage after this, however, she was the main character in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico that earned her an Theatre World Award. The roles of The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV roles. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way but Loose (1978), and the film adaptations of the hit counterculture musical Hair (1979) were only a few of the co-starring parts. Beverly's best performance was that of Patsy Cline (the one and only) in the biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Both she and Oscar winner Sissy Spacek (as co-country singer Loretta Lynn) proficiently performed their own vocals.