Beverly D'Angelo Is 100% Ellen Griswold

‘Tis the season for twinkling lights, festive ribbon, and losing your absolute mind over your parents waking the entire house up at 5 a.m. as they try to figure out your coffeemaker two days before Christmas.

But it doesn’t have to be, says Beverly D’Angelo. The iconic actress, most known for her role as Ellen Griswold in the National Lampoon Vacation series, is a big believer in family — but that doesn’t mean family has to be all up in your space. This holiday season, D’Angelo is partnering with Wyndham, the worldwide hotel company, to help everyone keep their holidays a little easier. I mean, if the Griswolds had a hotel, maybe things would’ve been less frantic? (No, Cousin Eddie’s RV doesn’t count.)

“I was talking to someone earlier, and we were talking about what do you get for your mom. It’s always like, you say to your mom, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ ‘Oh, nothing.’ Put them in a hotel. There's your present. Maid, pick up a croissant in the little breakfast bar, go home, everything's clean, sleep well... It's a great gift,” D’Angelo says.

Starting Nov. 12, Wyndham Rewards is offering a complimentary, limited-time, one-level status upgrade through the end of the year. With this upgrade, depending on your membership choice, you can get everything from a late check-out to preferred rooms and suite upgrades. And if you’re hosting family, why not pop them into a room?

“So then all I have to do is just open the door, do my cooking, and nobody comes straggling down and makes a mess in the kitchen trying to get coffee and all that stuff. It's the way to go,” D’Angelo says.

I mean, honestly, after watching the grandmothers smoke while trying to build a gingerbread house in Christmas Vacation, a cat exploding under the Christmas tree, and Clark losing his absolute mind, I think Ellen deserved the hotel all to herself more than anyone.

As a Clark Griswold myself, I couldn’t wait to talk to D’Angelo about the classic Christmas movie and what it means to so many of us.

SM: Speaking of holiday stress, I have to ask: Are you a Clark or an Ellen in your family?

Beverly D’Angelo: I'm an Ellen through and through. Through and through. Because of my mom. I got to tell you, I was a wild kid. I left home when I was 17. And just hit the ground running, I was like vacuum-sucked into the world of film.

But when I came to that role, it really wasn't me. You know what I mean? But to access who that woman was, first of all, I thought, OK, costume-wise, she's a preppy. My mom went to Smith College, total preppy. And my mother's philosophy was it doesn't matter how much you give, as long as in the end it adds up to a hundred percent.

So sometimes you're doing 99.9% of the work to keep a family cohesive and functioning in whatever form it is — two-home families, single-parent families, grandparents raising grandkids — but as long as it all adds up to a hundred at the end of the day, and the kids have that security and stability, then you're golden.

And I always saw these movies as a love story, a love-conquers-all kind of thing.

SM: I love that so much. I think that's how everyone else sees them, too. Because Clark is, of course, over-the-top, but Ellen is supporting him through all of it. She knows what he wants is his family and all this love and joy.

BD: And she'd never leave him. That was key for me. I built this whole backstory. It was a bullseye. He was her first love. And it's through thick and thin. She took those vows and nothing will deter her, not even swimming waitresses like in the first one.

SM: Yeah, Clark’s made some mistakes.

BD: I think everybody identifies with one Griswold or the other. But if you really break it down, everybody's motivation is love.

SM: It’s funny to think that you are a part of so many people's Christmas traditions because of this movie.

BD: I'll tell you, I never imagined it. And it's always ... it's actually a beautiful thing to be meeting people now that have had that in generations of their family.

SM: Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition from your own childhood?

BD: Let me ask you a question. OK. Before you had kids, did you really focus on Christmas, or did it happen when you started having kids?

SM: It’s funny because I was just telling my mom that I had the most magical childhood Christmases, and then in my 20s, Christmas felt a little off, and then it all came back when I became a mom.

BD: That's right. It wasn't a big deal to me. I'd go over to friends' houses and stuff. But once you have kids, then it becomes a thing. And then you get all of the messages, and you start to understand how stressed your parents were when they did it.

My tradition that I started recently was prosciutto-wrapped turkey. Easiest thing in the world.

But the tradition really is trying to just have a moment when it's about giving. But we're very non-materialistic in my family, and it becomes just about celebrating and being taken out of the everyday world. It's so demanding and more and more so all the time. To just like, "Isn't it great? Here's the good food, here are the good feelings, here's the decorations," and that kind of thing.

SM: I think that's so important to remember right now too, because there's so much for, especially young moms, on social media.

BD: I know, the pressure. But Christmas is very cool for that because you can say put your phone in the basket, be here, and all that kind of stuff. It's a challenging time to be raising kids. And my hat's off to you.

SM: Thank you.

BD: My kids are going to be 25 at the end of January, so I feel like ... they're never launched. Once you're a parent, you're a parent. And for me, becoming a mother is really part of my self-identity; I’m a very devoted mom in that way. But my kids are older so they have their own life, so the holidays become more important. The holidays that have to do with giving and being grateful.

SM: I love that. I think I'm going to take your mom's advice through my parenting now, just do what I can each day.

BD: As long as it adds up to a hundred. You’ve just got to see the big picture. And it gives your kids a sense of stability. And you're role-modeling that, too. Ellen Griswold does, I think.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.