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 was most likely in the roles she did, she was an interesting character worth watching regardless of the role. Hollywood admired her vibrant character, casual manner of life and ability to steal scenes. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was the daughter of Eugene Constantino Gene "Gene" D'Angelo and Priscilla Ruth Smith who was a violinist, as well as a bass player, who also owned a television station. Her maternal grandfather, Howard Dwight Smith, was the architect who designed the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium at Ohio State University. Her mother was of German, Irish, Scottish and German origin, while her father was Italian. Beverly was educated in an American school in Florence, Italy. At first, she was drawn to art. Beverly worked as a animator/cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions before moving to Canada to pursue a career in rock in order to earn a living. she was singer-in-situ and sang everywhere she could- from cafes to topless bars. The teen was asked to sing with Ronnie Hawkins, a rockabilly legend. Beverly's acting career started after she quit Hawkins and joined the Charlottetown Festival. While she was touring in Canada, Ophelia was playing the character of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582" an musical version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen Dewhurst saw potential in Beverly and the production. In the end, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was completely reworked and became the musical rock "Rockabye Hamlet". The show made it to Broadway in 1976. While the show was short-lived the character of Beverly's Ophelia was a hit and soon she was in the West coast with film and TV roles. She rarely returned to the stage following that, but she did appear with Ed Harris in 1995's off-Broadway production Sam Shepard’s "Simpatico" which earned her a Theatre World Award. The roles of The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV parts. A string 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 hit music video Hair (1979). The most memorable thing for Beverly was her powerhouse role as the singular Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). SissySpacek who was another country star and Loretta Lynn's Oscar winner, also expertly provided their voices.