Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo's entire career that spans nearly four decades, is fascinating and inspiring, and more than fascinating. It is possible that she deserves better films than the ones she had to be in, she was always a source for curiosity and was a pleasure to watch...whatever the role. Hardly the shrinking violet type, Hollywood counted on her for her colorful persona, casual manner of speaking and scene-stealing capabilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was born on the 15th of November 1951 in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of musicians Priscilla Ruth (Smith), a violinist, and 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 an English, Irish and Scottish-born mother. Her father was Italian. Beverly attended an American school in Florence. Beverly began her career as an animator/cartoonist at Hanna-Barbera Productions. After moving to Canada, Beverly became a session singer , and performed wherever she could, from coffeehouses and bars with topless seats. At one point the teenager was asked to sing with the rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly's acting career began when she quit Hawkins and joined Charlottetown Festival. When she was on tour in Canada, Ophelia was playing the part of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582", a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen Dewhurst saw potential in Beverly and the production. The show was later renamed Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion as the musical director became part of the cast. The show ran for a short time, however Beverly's Ophelia garnered fine notices. She soon found herself on the West Coast and was offered film and television opportunities. She never returned on stage after the show, but she did appear as an actor in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico, that earned her a Theatre World Award. She was a part of the TV miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976) which she later reprised as only a small part in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977), both Woody Allen classics. First Love (1977), Clint Eastwood's starring role in Every Which Way but Loose (78) and the film adaptation of the popular Counterculture Hair (1979) were just a few of the co-starring roles she played. Best of all for Beverly was her stunning featured performance as the one-and-only Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Both she as well as Oscar winner Sissy Spacek (as fellow country singer Loretta Lynn) proficiently performed their own singing.