Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Interesting, inspirational as well as always intriguing -- are the main adjectives when describing the career of Beverly D'Angelo, which has been well past the four-decade mark. Although she was most likely at the roles she did, she was a fascinating character and one to keep an eye on no matter what role she played. Not exactly a shrinking violet, Hollywood counted on her because of her vivid character, laid-back manner of life and ability to steal scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on the 15th of November 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of the musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith), a violinist, as well as Eugene Constantino "Gene" D'Angelo the bass player 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 was educated at the American school in Florence, Italy. Beverly was at first attracted by art and worked as an animator/cartoonist with Hanna-Barbera Productions. She then relocated to Canada to pursue an opportunity in rock singing. In order to make ends meet singing, she went wherever she could from topless bars to cafes. Ronnie Hawkins invited Beverly to join his band in some point. Beverly started her acting career when she joined the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and left Hawkins. While touring Canada as Ophelia she saw an 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. Then, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was revamped, and it became the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet". It was brought to Broadway in the year 1976. Although the show was only a short run and a few years later, Beverly's Ophelia received a lot of attention and soon she was on the West coast with film and TV roles. It was rare for her to return to the stage following her time on stage, but she did appear alongside Ed Harris in 1995's off-Broadway production by Sam Shepard's "Simpatico" which earned her a Theatre World Award. The roles in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV role. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's co-starring film Every Which Way but Loose (78) as well as the film adaptation of the popular counterculture music Hair (1979) were just a few of her co-starring roles. Beverly's most memorable performance came in the role of Patsy Cline, the only coal miner's daughter (1980). Both she and Oscar award-winning Sissy Spacek (as the country singer Loretta Lynn) expertly supplied their own vocals.