Beverly D’Angelo took matters into her own hands and made movie history.

After "National Lampoon’s Vacation" (1983) and "National Lampoon’s European Vacation" (1985), the Griswolds returned to deliver more chaos in 1989’s "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation." The film starred D’Angelo and Chevy Chase, along with Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, among others.

D’Angelo is ringing in the new year with plenty in store for fans. She stars alongside Hayden Panettiere in the upcoming 2026 psychological thriller "Sleepwalker." She recently followed it up with "The Heart Brake," in which she turns a property into a Christmas bed-and-breakfast called the Noel Hotel. 

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But when the holidays roll around, D’Angelo still looks back at the film that keeps on giving — and the moment she made her own.

"It was not in the script for me to guard the family jewels when the police came to stick us up," the actress told Fox News Digital. "I threw that in. That was definitely improvised. That was my little touch. All in one take."

In the film, a police officer orders everyone gathered for the Griswold family Christmas to freeze. A stunned Ellen (D’Angelo) suddenly grabs Clark’s (Chase) crotch and stands still, obeying the command.

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"We had one take left, and it was the end of the day," D’Angelo recalled. "I said, ‘I bet nobody catches this.’ We did the shot, freeze, and I put my hand there. It was like, ‘OK, that’s a wrap. Everybody go home.’ It was subtle. And it had to stay in the film because it was the only shot left! What are they going to do? They didn’t have a choice."

Chase was in on the joke.

It was a long day of filming, and the star was eager to have some fun. D’Angelo tipped off Chase about what she was going to do. He agreed — before quickly adding, "You can’t do that," convinced she’d never get away with it, Forbes reported.

"I guarantee you no one’s going to be looking at my hand," she told him, as quoted by the outlet. "Everybody’s going to be looking at your face and Randy’s [Quaid] face and the expressions. I’m going to be way down below your waist, and the director’s not even looking at me. He’s just trying to get you guys good, get this take."

It worked — and if you blink, you’ll miss it.

"Well, what would you do in that situation?" D’Angelo told Fox News Digital. "You would guard the family jewels, first and foremost."

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D’Angelo, 74, noted that she and Chase, 82, became fast friends from the moment they met on set. That bond has endured for decades.

"I knew from the beginning I’d have a lifelong friendship with Chevy," D’Angelo explained. "It was just like meeting a brother. We’ve kept that connection all the way, decades later. I just had a feeling when we met that we would be a tribe. I can’t explain it, except there’s just something about when Chevy and I get together."

"There’s a chemistry we can create," she shared. "We have a chemistry, we get each other. And then, we can easily flip into Clark and Ellen. It’s just something. I can’t explain it. It doesn’t happen with anybody else. He makes me Ellen, and I make him Clark when we work together. It’s very natural. We just know."

Despite their instant connection, D’Angelo admitted she didn’t expect them to cross paths again after the first film.

"When we did the first ‘Vacation,’ it was just a summer movie," said D’Angelo. "That concept of a franchise arrived much later. We only made the second one because the first one was such a hit. And then ‘Christmas’ was just as successful as the very first one, which is unusual. So, when I went in to meet Chevy, I just thought I was doing a Chevy Chase comedy that was going to be done after ‘Animal House.’"

"I had some hesitations about it," she noted. "There are these old rules — never work with kids and animals. And there were a lot of kids and animals. Plus, I was the mother of teenagers, and I was 29 when we did that. I was even suggesting actresses to my agent. 'Tell them to meet this person, that person.’ Just actress friends that I thought would be good. But it was my husband at the time — I was married to an Italian duke, actually — and he said, ‘But Beverly, this is hilarious! You must do it.’"

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"That was that," she continued. "I was in Italy when a friend of mine called me, and he said, ‘Do you know you’re in the number one movie this week?’ It was the first ‘Vacation.’ It just kept growing. It seems to be part of our whole culture now. For so many people, it’s part of their Christmas ritual. I don’t know what to say, except to quote myself and say, ‘It’s Christmas. We’re all in misery.’"

Making "Christmas Vacation" wasn’t always easy. It reminded D’Angelo of one of her past rules.

"The squirrel that jumped out of the tree? That squirrel was trained by professional animal trainers," said D’Angelo about the unforgettable scene from "Christmas Vacation."

"It was trained to leap out of the tree and onto Chevy’s shoulder, and onto somebody else’s shoulder. It was trained to do all these tricks. They really, really trained it."

"They did a fantastic job to the point that the squirrel had a heart attack or something," she claimed. "Something happened to the squirrel. So when it came time to shoot, they had to quickly find another squirrel. They got a relatively wild one, certainly not trained to do all the tricks that the original squirrel had been able to do. So they do have a live squirrel leaping out of the tree, but everything else is a stuffed squirrel."

However unruly the making of "Christmas Vacation" may have been, D’Angelo knows it’s become a holiday classic — and she’s grateful.

"Here’s the thing about Christmas," she said. "Of course, when you have children, it becomes important. I was never a big holiday person, per se. I don’t even like to celebrate my birthday, to tell you the truth. I don’t like all the attention. But it’s that spirit of giving, it’s a wonderful thing to always be engaged in."

"I didn’t think that [‘National Lampoon’] was going to turn into a lifelong thing," she reflected. "It’s beautiful."

It was the year of the UFO in 2025. From new-age documentaries to decades-old mysterious reports coming to light, both experts and civilians have been baffled by a slew of new information regarding otherworldly objects appearing over the country’s skies. 

Here is a look at the most compelling, out-of-this-world UFO headlines from 2025, as questions continue to swirl regarding the validity of such claims and whether we are truly alone in the universe.

Earlier this year, scientists at California’s Palomar Observatory discovered several instances of transient, star-like flashes in photographs taken over 70 years ago that may hold the key to answers regarding instances of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – or UFOs – appearing near nuclear testing sites, according to a research paper published in Nature’s Scientific Reports on Oct. 20, 2025.

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The images originated from digitized astronomical plates – pieces of glass that capture images of the night sky – compiled by the observatory from 1949 to 1957, while also predating the launch of the first artificial satellite in October 1957. 

"We speculate that some transients could potentially be UAP in Earth orbit that, if descending into the atmosphere, might provide the stimulus for some UAP sightings," the paper states.

While many of the objects were determined by scientists to be errors or markings on the physical plates, thousands of other sightings reportedly correspond with various documented sightings of UFOs appearing near nuclear testing sites. 

In one instance, bright objects were spotted in the night sky within the same two weeks when witnesses reported numerous UAPs above Washington, D.C., from July 19 to July 27, 1952, according to the report. 

The final documented sighting within the timeframe was over a nuclear testing site on March 17, 1956, just one day after the "Joe 21" test conducted by the Soviet Union, according to the New York Post.

Researchers also subsequently observed transients hovering on at least 124 above-ground nuclear tests at sites that were active from 1951 until the launch of Sputnik in 1957. However, further research reportedly led them to the conclusion that the phenomenon was the result of "high energy particles" present within the atmosphere, due to the nuclear testing materials. 

Similarly, the study pointed to findings that revealed transients were 45% more likely to be spotted in the air within 24 hours of nuclear testing, with "significantly more" UAP sightings being documented within the test windows.

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The researchers ultimately concluded that eyewitness sightings of star-like transient objects directly correlating with conditions created by nuclear weapons testing are "small but statistically-significant associations." 

"Our findings provide additional empirical support for the validity of the UAP phenomenon and its potential connection to nuclear weapons activity, contributing data beyond eyewitness reports," the scientists wrote.

Newly released police logs and video directly contradict explanations from officials regarding a near-collision between a U.K. police helicopter and UAPs over a United States air base last year, ultimately discrediting reports from officials claiming it was merely a routine fighter jet sighting. 

According to documents obtained by the Daily Mail, the incident unfolded around 10 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2024, when a National Police Air Service (NPAS) EC135 helicopter was forced off-course as it took emergency evasive action after the pilot reported two fast-moving craft "targeted" and pursued the crew over RAF Lakenheath, a major U.S. military installation in Suffolk.

The move required the pilots to maneuver a steep dive to ultimately avoid crashing into the objects, which were matching the aircraft’s speed at roughly 190 mph in what was later described as an "unprovoked pursuit." 

"They had to perform an emergency dive and described that they were pursued in the dive by two drones who matched their speed – and then pursued them for several minutes out of the area," one police entry states. 

Separate police reports compiled between Nov. 20-22 documented roughly 20 drone sightings across RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell, with eyewitness accounts describing "10-15 drones [flying] potentially into base airspace," that ultimately grounded surrounding aircraft.

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Additionally, a witness using night-vision goggles described spotting "five to six drones" flying above the A1065 highway. Another individual reported seeing "large stationary things – tic tacs – they are not birds." 

However, despite the sightings by both government officials and civilians, Britain's Airprox Board concluded in its final report that the objects were actually the lights of a U.S. Air Force F-15 operating nearby, pointing to radar data indicating the two aircraft came within 1,700 feet of each other on the evening of the incursion. 

The popular UFO-reporting app Enigma gripped the nation after its crowdsourced data recorded thousands of mysterious objects jetting up and down the United States’ coastlines. 

Since August, Enigma has documented more than 9,000 sightings of unidentified submersible objects (USOs) within 10 miles of United States shorelines or other major bodies of water, Marine Technology News reported.

Of the documented sightings, roughly 500 reportedly occurred within five miles of the country’s coastline, with 150 objects being seen either hovering above – or entering and emerging from – bodies of water. 

According to Enigma, several clusters of activity appeared to be centered around specific coastal points, with California and Florida accounting for the most sightings throughout the country. 

"It seems like there are five or six areas where there's real high UFO activity around water," Kent Heckenlively, author of "Catastrophic Disclosure: Aliens, The Deep State and The Truth," told Fox News Digital.

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"It would make a great deal of sense, and I think the problem that the regular person is facing is that they're saying to themselves, ‘OK, if these things are real, how could they come to earth and hide?’ And the ocean seems like a great place to hide."

The release of a new UFO documentary titled, "The Age of Disclosure," has pulled back the curtain on the decades-long mystery surrounding strange, unknown objects spotted throughout the skies over the U.S. 

"For a very long time, the public, Congress and even the president have been kept out of the loop on this subject," director Dan Farah told Fox News’ Bret Baier. "In the last few years, senior members of Congress, senior members of the administration — thanks to whistleblowers — have found out what's been going on, and they are now in pursuit of the truth for themselves and for the American people."

The documentary features interviews with 34 senior members of the U.S. government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to pull back the curtain on an alleged "80-year global cover-up" of non-human intelligence potentially existing on other planets and their intrusion on Earth.

"We've had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it's not ours," Rubio said in the trailer.

The documentary looks to expose what has notoriously been a buttoned-up topic among U.S. government officials, with Farah revealing that members of Congress and the Trump administration are working to break through decades of refusing to release information to the public.

Additionally, the film reveals how the U.S. government is currently involved in a "high-stakes, secret Cold War race with adversarial nations like China and Russia" to investigate objects that are of non-human origin, with high-level officials corroborating the information.

The film also points to instances of non-human bodies being recovered from mysterious objects, further punctuating the mystery – and sense of urgency – surrounding alien life coming to Earth. 

"I think that the human race would do a lot of growing up if we found out we lived in a very crowded neighborhood," Heckenlively said. "We would be curious, we'd want to fit in. I think we would up our game if we knew that there were species out there that didn't have some of the negatives associated with the human race."

Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price contributed to this report.