Beverly Heather D'Angelo

Beverly D'Angelo's life has been fascinating, inspiring, and always fascinating for the past four years. While she might have appeared in more prestigious films than she usually found herself in, she was still a captivating character and the one to watch no matter what the role. She was not the shrinking violet kind, Hollywood counted on her because of her vivid personality, down-to-earth demeanor and scene-stealing capabilities. Beverly Heather D'Angelo was the daughter of Eugene Constantino Gene "Gene" D'Angelo and Priscilla Ruth Smith who was a violinist and a bass player, who also operated a television station. Howard Dwight Smith, her maternal grandfather was the Ohio ("Horseshoe") Stadium architect at Ohio State University. Her mother was of English, Irish, Scottish, and German family ancestry. Her father was of Italian descent. Beverly once attended 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 in rock music to make ends meet. she worked as an accompanist for sessions and sang anyplace she could -- from topless bars to coffeehouses. At one point , the teen was asked to sing with the rockabilly legendary Ronnie Hawkins. Beverly began her career in acting when she joined the Charlottetown Festival repertory troupe and quit Hawkins. While traveling Canada as Ophelia, she saw the opportunity to appear in "Kronborg : 1582" it is a rock musical rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Colleen dewhurst was there and noticed the promise of Beverly. The show was changed to Rockabye Hamlet after Gower Champion as the musical director was added to the mix. The show was a bit short-lived, but Beverly's Ophelia garnered fine notices. She soon found herself on the West Coast and was offered opportunities in television and film. The show never made it back to the stage again after her departure, but she was the main character in Ed Harris' 1995 off-Broadway production, Sam Shepard's "Simpatico which earned her a Theatre World Award. Parts of The Sentinel (1977), and Annie Hall (1977) were her first TV part. 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). One of the most memorable moments for Beverly was her powerhouse role as the singular Patsy Cline in the acclaimed biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). She and Sissy Spacek, a friend of fellow country singer Loretta Lynn, both provided their voices with skill.