Beverly D’Angelo Put Her Kids Ahead of Her Career When She Welcomed Them at Age 49

Beverly D’Angelo put motherhood ahead of her career. 

Speaking to PEOPLE, D’Angelo, now 73, remembered welcoming her twins, Anton and Olivia Pacino, with then-partner Al Pacino when she was 49 years old. “Don’t try it at home,” she joked.

D’Angelo remembered that she only learned that her 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation had become a holiday classic when her kids, then 10, told her that “everybody’s talking about” the movie at school. 

“I did not raise my kids in that culture,” she said of more typical, celebrity-focused Hollywood. “If I would have been more focused, maybe I would have had a bigger career, but I was focused on my kids, to tell you the truth.”

Once she had kids, she explained, “I had them so late, and it was like, ‘Well, been there, done that, let’s do this.’ ”

One other part of being an older mom she didn’t expect, she said, was that when she met the mothers of the other kids, they “didn’t really have the same references” as her.

That’s part of why she cherishes seeing her Christmas Vacation castmates Chevy Chase, Juliette Lewis, and Randy Quaid so much. “Seeing Chevy, seeing Randy, seeing Juliette, we have that common thing where we were all together making this movie.”

But she “never imagined” Christmas Vacation would be “part of our culture” 40 years later. She and Chase ultimately made four films in the series, including 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1985’s National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Christmas Vacation and 1997’s Vegas Vacation.

D’Angelo also told PEOPLE about some of her plans with her kids this holiday season. “We’re cooking-oriented,” she said. “We’re always cooking-oriented. I do a prosciutto-wrapped turkey. That’s my big dish, and my son Anton is a big cook, and he’s got all kinds of pasta dishes in his pocket.” 

D’Angelo and Pacino, 85, were together from 1997 to 2003 and welcomed Olivia and Anton in 2001. 

D’Angelo reflected on their family and relationship in a May 2024 Instagram post, writing in part, “My story with Al began 27 years ago, two artists meeting, falling in love. We lived together for seven years, had two children, broke up, but continued steadily on our journey as co parents- and came to share our lives with a deeper kind of intimacy, honesty and acceptance than a ‘traditional’ relationship would have allowed (for us at least).”

She continued, “We’ve always been linked on the creative level — our conversations about acting, the search/need for expression — that’s a conversation that started in ‘96 and continues to this day. It’s def a unique relationship, encompassing a wide breadth/depth of experiences and emotions, through thick and thin, a true friendship.”

D’Angelo has most recently appeared in 2022’s Violent Night and 2025’s No Address, and will appear in the 2026 horror movie Sleepwalker.