Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#3006
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Beverly D'Angelo represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 49 years in, and Beverly is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Beverly D'Angelo appears in 24 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Beverly. American History X is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for horror, thriller, documentary. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Brandon Auman, Wallace Wolodarsky, Robert Schwartzman and others, Beverly D'Angelo helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
American History X (1998) as Doris · Annie Hall (1977) as Actress in Rob's TV Show · Violent Night (2022) as Gertrude
Career snapshot
Ranked #3006 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
24
1977–2026
Career length
49 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
American History X
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
American History X
Most frequent director
John Schlesinger
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With John Schlesinger
Most common genre
Comedy
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 41m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1980s
7.1 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Coal Miner's Daughter — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.1
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Hair, Every Which Way but Loose, The Sentinel.
Most productive era
2020s
7 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.03 films | 6.91 film | 7.03 films | — | 6.11 film | 6.21 film |
| Action | — | — | — | 6.11 film | — | 7.21 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.32 films | — | — | 5.22 films |
| Comedy | 7.03 films | 7.21 film | — | 5.62 films | 5.34 films | 6.14 films |
| Crime | — | — | — | — | — | 5.71 film |
| Romance | 7.61 film | — | — | 5.62 films | 5.12 films | 6.21 film |
| Horror | 6.21 film | — | — | — | — | 5.22 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1977The Sentinel
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Sandra.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Capps Crossing: Wrong Side of Dead
The current state of the argument, as Sandra.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
24 of 24 films
as Gertrude
Directed by Unknown
as Sheila Franklin
Directed by Miloš Forman
as Actress in Rob's TV Show
Directed by Woody Allen
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Doris
American History X (1998)
Performance score8.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Doris gives Beverly D'Angelo a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Gertrude
Violent Night (2022)
Performance score7.6
Violent Night asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gertrude is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Ellen Griswold
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Performance score7.6
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ellen Griswold is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Sheila Franklin
Hair (1979)
Performance score7.4
Hair asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sheila Franklin is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Doris
Start here. American History X is the clearest statement of what Beverly D'Angelo does — accessible, 119 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Beverly at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Annie Hall (1977)
Keeps the drama register of American History X but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hair (1979)
Keeps the comedy register of Annie Hall but asks for a colder reading of it.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Keeps the comedy register of Hair but asks for a colder reading of it.
Violent Night (2022)
Keeps the comedy register of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Schlesinger
Director
2 films together
Notably Eye for an Eye
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Annie Hall
Michael Winner
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sentinel
James Fargo
Director
1 film together
Notably Every Which Way but Loose
Miloš Forman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hair
Michael Apted
Director
1 film together
Notably Coal Miner's Daughter
Jeremiah S. Chechik
Director
1 film together
Notably National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Tony Kaye
Director
1 film together
Notably American History X
Michael Tollin
Director
1 film together
Notably Summer Catch
Fred Wolf
Director
1 film together
Notably The House Bunny
David O. Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably Accidental Love
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Vacation
Robin Swicord
Director
1 film together
Notably Wakefield
Robert Schwartzman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Unicorn
Wallace Wolodarsky
Director
1 film together
Notably The Good House
Brandon Auman
Director
1 film together
Notably Sleepwalker
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
John Schlesinger
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Eye for an EyeTony Kaye
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American History XWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Annie HallJeremiah S. Chechik
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
National Lampoon's Christmas VacationMiloš Forman
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HairMichael Apted
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Coal Miner's DaughterJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VacationJames Fargo
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Every Which Way but LooseWallace Wolodarsky
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Good HouseMichael Winner
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The SentinelRobin Swicord
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WakefieldFred Wolf
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The House BunnyMichael Tollin
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Summer CatchBrandon Auman
Director
1 film together · 4.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SleepwalkerRobert Schwartzman
Director
1 film together · 4.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The UnicornDavid O. Russell
Director
1 film together · 4.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Accidental LoveSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
American History X
as Doris
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Coal Miner's Daughter
as Patsy Cline
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
American History X
as Doris
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Annie Hall
as Actress in Rob's TV Show
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
American History X
as Doris
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Beverly D'Angelo has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
49 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
American History X
as Doris
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
American History X
as Doris
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Coal Miner's Daughter
as Patsy Cline
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Sentinel
as Sandra
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
American History X
as Doris
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Battle for Terra
as Interrogator Wright (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Annie Hall
as Actress in Rob's TV Show
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Every Which Way but Loose
as Echo
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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