Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo's entire career that spans nearly four decades, is fascinating as well as inspiring and nothing less than captivating. Although she was probably better than the roles she played, she was still an amazing character to be watched no matter the role she played. A far cry from the shrinking violet, Hollywood counted on her because of her vivid persona, casual manner of speaking and scene-stealing capabilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo is the daughter of Eugene Constantino "Gene", musician and bass player who was also the managing director of a television station. She was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 15 the 15th of November, 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 from German, Irish, Scottish and German descent, and her father was Italian. Beverly was educated at an American school in Florence, Italy. At first, she was awed by art. Beverly worked as an animator and cartoonist at Hanna-Barbera Productions before moving to Canada to pursue a career as a rock singer In order to survive, she became the session singer and performed wherever she could -- from cafes to topless bars. Ronnie Hawkins invited Beverly to join his rockabilly band at some point. Beverly's acting career started when she quit Hawkins and joined Charlottetown Festival. She was performing in Canada in the role of Ophelia in "Kronborg 1582" the rock musical version of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" when the renowned Colleen Dewhurst saw a performance and was impressed by the potential of Beverly and the show. Then, Gower Champion was hired as the musical director. The show was completely modified and became the rock musical "Rockabye Hamlet". It was able to make it to Broadway in 1976. While the show itself was not long-lived, Beverly's Ophelia was well-received and soon she was on the West coast with film and TV roles. She rarely returned to the stage following her time on stage, but she did appear alongside Ed Harris in 1995's off-Broadway production 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) as well as later playing the role of a minor character in The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977), both Woody Allen classics. A sequence of co-starring parts came with First Love (1977), the Clint Eastwood starrer Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and the film adaptation of the popular counterculture musical Hair (1979). Beverly's most memorable performance was as Patsy Cline, the only coal miner's daughter (1980). She as well as Oscar award-winning Sissy Spacek (as the country singer Loretta Lynn) proficiently performed their own singing.