Upper Arlington native Beverly D'Angelo on enduring popularity of 'Christmas Vacation'
In the classic 1989 holiday comedy “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation,” Clark Griswold is the dad who can’t quite get Christmas right: As played by Chevy Chase, Clark struggles with affixing lights to his house, gets himself stuck in the attic and seriously overestimates his Christmas bonus.
On the other hand, sensible, practical, elegant Ellen Griswold helps hold the holidays together. We laugh at Clark; we laugh with Ellen.
In “Christmas Vacation” — as in the “Vacation” comedies that preceded and followed it — Ellen is played by Upper Arlington native Beverly D’Angelo. A Golden Globe nominee for her performance as Patsy Cline in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” D’Angelo has become a part of America’s cinematic family thanks to her appearances in the “Vacation” series.
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With “Christmas Vacation” poised to once again become ubiquitous this holiday season — a new 4K Blu-ray release just came out — D’Angelo spoke by phone with The Dispatch. The actress shared details about making the movie, her thoughts on its popularity and a sneak peek into her latest Christmas-themed flick.
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What makes 'Christmas Vacation' a family favorite?
Released in 1983, the original “National Lampoon’s Vacation” was intended as a comedy with a hard edge. “The first ‘Vacation’ was R-rated and it was a satire — not quite a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit, but certainly an extension of something like that,” D’Angelo said. “But . . . they discovered immediately that people were taking their families because they identified with the Griswolds.”
Consequently, subsequent films in the series were designed to be more family-friendly, including “Christmas Vacation.” “When ‘Christmas Vacation’ came out, it was again: Who are we and how do we do Christmas?” D’Angelo said. “There was a lot to relate to.”
Why has the movie endured?
D’Angelo attributes some of “Christmas Vacation’s” lasting appeal to the contributions of director Jeremiah S. Chechik, who gave the film a glossy, polished sheen appropriate for a Christmas movie. “(Chechik) was a commercial director of some renown at that point,” D’Angelo said. “He was very, very visually oriented. There was a look to that film that was special: The way that he lit and the way that he shot it.”
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Above all, however, D’Angelo credits writer-producer John Hughes for the film’s sense of warmth and good cheer. “He was a total humanist, and . . . he loved people,” D’Angelo said of Hughes, the writer-director of “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.” “The Griswolds . . . really personified (Hughes’) point of view about what a family is and how they interact, and where love lies.” Hughes died in 2009.
Beverly D’Angelo drew inspiration from her mother
In bringing to life the character of Ellen, D’Angelo drew upon her mother Priscilla D’Angelo, a homemaker, violinist and civic leader who died in 2013.
“My mother said, ‘In a marriage, it doesn’t matter who contributes what as long as it adds up to 100’ — which is not your standard women’s-lib 50/50 rule,” said D’Angelo, whose father was former WBNS-TV executive Gene D’Angelo, who died in 2018. “But that’s what she believed, and she practiced that as well. . . . She was very devoted to my father and to my family.”
D’Angelo added: “I always saw all the ‘Vacation’ movies, and ‘Christmas Vacation’ especially, as a romantic comedy in that, in the end, love conquers all.”
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Where was the film shot?
Although set in Chicago, the Griswolds’ house was recreated on a soundstage, and the street on which the house sits was on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. “The snow was all fake,” she said. “We shot that in warm weather.”
Were those all real lights on Clark and Ellen’s house?
The Griswolds’ house is decorated in thousands of lights, all of which were real, not computer-generated, D’Angelo said. “All real lights,” she said.
Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo’s chemistry
From the first “Vacation” onward, D’Angelo recognized that she clicked with Chase on-screen. “We always had great chemistry — we just do; we still do,” she said.
The Griswold kids
In “Christmas Vacation,” Clark and Ellen’s children, Rusty and Audrey, are played by Johnny Galecki and Juliette Lewis. D’Angelo praises both performers.
“Johnny was such a sweet kid,” D’Angelo said. “He was a little short guy, so I don’t know why, but every time he’d come onto the set, I’d start singing, ‘Johnny Galecki is a big, big man!’”
D’Angelo was familiar with Lewis from the time her on-screen daughter was a small child: Lewis’ father, actor Geoffrey Lewis, appeared with D’Angelo in the Clint Eastwood movie “Every Which Way But Loose.” By the time they worked together on “Christmas Vacation,” D’Angelo said, the young actress was “charismatic as all get-out and fascinating and intriguing and interesting and gorgeous, in a very specific way.”
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Beverly D’Angelo wanted Ellen Griswold to look elegant
Adding to the movie’s timelessness was Ellen’s subtle but elegant wardrobe. “I’m not a fashionista at all, but I was always sensitive to how Ellen looked,” D’Angelo said. “Michael Kaplan was the costume designer, . . . and he said, ‘Let’s put (Ellen) in angora sweaters and little capris.” The supporting cast may reflect some 1980s fashions, but Chase and D’Angelo were dressed more timelessly.” “I was always very clear that Clark and Ellen were a timeless couple and were traditional,” D’Angelo said.
It’s Beverly D’Angelo’s diamond on-screen
“By the way, the diamond ring that I wear in that film was a diamond that Neil Jordan gave me,” said D’Angelo, who had a multiyear relationship with Jordan, the Irish director of “The Crying Game,” “High Spirits” and “The Miracle” (the last two starring D’Angelo). But she lost the ring after filming “Christmas Vacation.” “I remember taking it off my finger and sticking it in my purse,” she said. “Then I went to a drive-thru car wash and I never saw it again.”
When did Beverly D’Angelo realize the movie was a holiday tradition?
“Christmas Vacation” raked in money at the box office on its initial release, grossing $71 million, but it took a few years to become an annual favorite. D’Angelo first realized that the movie had entered the popular consciousness when she found out that it was being talked about by the parents of the classmates of her children with former partner Al Pacino, Anton and Olivia.
“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s time to show my kids this movie,’” D’Angelo said. “It's different with Al’s movies, because he doesn’t make movies for families. I’ve made so many of those.”
There’s a new Christmas movie coming up with Beverly D’Angelo
D’Angelo has a featured part in the upcoming movie “Violent Night,” which Universal will release on Dec. 2. The R-rated action-comedy movie stars David Harbour as Santa Claus, who, one Christmas Eve, swings by the mansion of the ultra-wealthy Lightstone family only to encounter a home invasion. “My character is Gertrude Lightstone, the matriarch of this family and the head of Lightstone Industries,” D’Angelo said. “The most fun for me is that it’s a complete 180 from Ellen Griswold.”
Where is Christmas Vacation streaming in 2022?
Here are some places to watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”:
The movie airs at 6:05 p.m. Sunday on TBS and 8 and 11 p.m. Monday on TNT.
The movie can also be streamed on services including HBO Max and Amazon Prime.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Christmas Vacation,' star Beverly D'Angelo talks new film