Beverly D’Angelo says she and Chevy Chase have enjoyed a life-long friendship due to their roles in the ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ films.
The actress and the comic legend have played married couple Clark and Ellen Griswald on six occasions – including an online only short film ‘Hotel Hell Vacation’ – beginning with the original comedy in 1983 and most recently in the 2015 reboot ‘Vacation.
Beverly, 65, never imagined the series would prove to be so popular and beloved by so many people and she is very grateful to be approached by fans of the films and for her friendship with Chevy, 73.
In an interview with A.V Club, she said: "It was kind of conceived as being a successful movie, but along the lines that ‘Animal House’ was successful. But this was mainstream and everybody was like, ‘I’m just like Ellen.’ ‘Oh, my husband’s like Clark.’ And I thought it would go away. It never went away, and to this day, it hasn’t gone away, so I thank god that I did that. Because not only is my friendship with Chevy Chase tried and true, and when I say tried, I mean tried. We’ve gone through so many things together. We tried to do a TV show a couple years ago. It was a nightmare. I was so mad at him when we were shooting the pilot. And it was over, and it was like, thank god, now I can go back to loving him. That’s a long-term friendship. And this relationship that I have with the public because of the Griswolds – what a gift. Generation love it."
Beverly is proud of all of her outings as Ellen Griswald but her favourite is still the first film in which Ellen and Clark make a disastrous road trip with their kids from Chicago to Californian amusement park Walley World.
She said: "The first one [is my favourite]. Well, I’ve done five. The original one, ‘European’, ‘Christmas’, ‘Vegas’, and then the reboot."
Beverly D’Angelo is grateful for friendship with Chevy Chase
