Beverly Heather D'Angelo

The career of Beverly D'Angelo has been fascinating, inspiring, and always entertaining for four decades. Although she may be deserving of better films than the ones she had to be in, she was always a source for fascination and the one to watch...whatever the role. Hollywood loved her vibrant persona, relaxed manner of speaking, 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 and bassist, who also owned a television station. Howard Dwight Smith, her maternal grandfather, was the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium architect at Ohio State University. Her mother is from German, Irish, Scottish and German descent, and her father was Italian. Beverly was educated at the American school in Florence, Italy. Beverly was initially drawn to art and became animator and cartoonist for Hanna-Barbera Productions. She then relocated to Canada to pursue the career of rock singing. To make ends work she would sing wherever she could, from topless bars to coffeehouses. At one point the teenager was invited to join forces with rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly's acting career began when she left Hawkins and joined Charlottetown Festival. While on tour in Canada, Ophelia was playing the role of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582" which was a musical rock adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen Dewhurst saw potential in Beverly and the show. In the end, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was revamped, and it became the rock musical "Rockabye Hamlet". It made it to Broadway in 1976. The show was only a few months in existence, however Beverly's Ophelia received acclaim. It was soon clear that she would be in the West Coast, with television and film roles. From that point on she never returned to the stage, but she did appear alongside Ed Harris in the 1995 off-Broadway version of Sam Shepard's "Simpatico", which earned her a Theatre World Award. She was also a part of the TV miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976), and later played an insignificant role 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) as well as the film adaptation of the popular Counterculture Hair (1979) were some of the co-starring roles she played. Beverly's most memorable performance was in the role of Patsy Cline, the only coal miner's daughter (1980). She as well as Sissy Spacek, a fellow country music star Loretta Lynn, provided their voices with skill.